One to Grow On

posted by Diana

I've been practicing at knitting my dream hat... the current incarnation is mostly pink, has ears, and is all-around silly. This test run in particular is in the form of a gift I knit up for my friend's baby-turned-toddler. Little Charlie turned one last week and I wanted to make sure her headgear game was on point for the upcoming year. (I'm living vicariously through a baby and I don't hate it.)

Doesn't everyone have a wooden head form?

Charlie's party was Saturday, but I couldn't make it because I was feeling under the weather. Is it worse to cancel last minute or show up coughing and a little feverish to a one-year-old's birthday party? I chose the former because I couldn't forgive myself if that little one caught my cold (and, you know, the rest of the party goers too). Since I had this hat knit up already, a friend graciously agreed to take it along with him. I hope she tore into the wrapping like a champ.

I knit this hat out of Lion Brand Homespun. I normally almost-hate working with this yarn, but this go-round wasn't so bad. Now that I'm much more experienced with knitting, I tend to knit loosely, which is an advantage when working with this yarn. Because of its texture and how it's spun, the yarn tends to bunch up if worked too tightly on smaller needles. But the painterly colors and finished product make the pain worth it. Plus, the yarn wears well over time (hardly pilling at all) and is incredibly soft. And it's acrylic, so it's machine washable... perfect for little ones when they get into big messes.

Check out how soft and lovely these colors are.

I knew I wanted to use this yarn to make the base of the hat, so I decided to wing it because I couldn't find quite the right pattern. Lion Brand Homespun is a bulky weight yarn, and most of the hat patterns I found for that size yarn were too fussy for my tastes.

Here's the basic guideline for my simple stockinette hat:
Use size 10 circular needles. Switch to size 10 double pointed needles when necessary.
Cast on 50 stitches. Knit about 6 inches.
Decreases (* indicates repeat across round):

1. *K3, k2tog
2. Knit round even
3.  *K2, k2tog
4. Knit round even 
5. *K1, k2tog 
6. *k2tog
7. *k2tog

Pull yarn through stitches and weave in ends.

Some assembly required.

I followed a pattern for the ears. They're from the Deer With Little Antlers hat pattern in Stephanie Dosen's Woodland Knits (a book I highly recommend!). I followed the pattern for smaller sized ears and used the same Homespun yarn for the ear bases and some scrap pink acrylic for the inside portions. The ears weren't tricky at all to knit up. Sewing them on was a bit more difficult because I wanted the ears to be even... but I think I managed it well.

Once I sewed the ears to the hat, I had to shape them. At first I sewed the ears on flat, which made them look like teeny piggy ears. That was cute, but not quite the look I was going for. I added the little pinch at the base of the ears by tugging a piece of scrap yarn through and weaving in the ends. Just adding those small pieces of yarn changed the entire look of the ears and gave them a more doe-like appearance.

I threaded the tie over and under about three to four stitches at a time.

When all was said and done, this hat came out almost large enough to fit me. That's okay because I have a small head, but I added a tie anyway, just in case. I used a size J crochet hook and chained about 25 inches or so, wove in the ends, and threaded my finished yarn tie through the hat brim. Even though I wasn't intending it to be there, I think the bow adds a little extra cuteness. 

I love that my friends have cute kiddos I can put cute things on... I'm tempted to make one of these hats for me, complete with the antlers in Stepanie's original pattern.

Happy making!