Mama to Be Opening the Hat

Here my friend is opening the hat! She loved it! :)

Little Model

I found a little cutie to model the hat I made. She is a year old, but she's a little peanut. I tried it on a 16 month baby and it fit him too. The thing stretches quite a bit.
I also tried it on a 4 month old and took pictures but I haven't asked her Mom yet if I can post pictures.

My Best Friends Belly

Is it weird that I am in love with this picture? I don't know if it's jealousy or longing, but I love this picture and what it captures.

I am doing a "photo shoot" with her some time this week. I'm looking forward to it.

Diaper Cake

I know it's not something knitted, but it's something I made. I saw this idea first on web site for the magazine Parents so I've been looking for my opportunity to make one.

I was finally presented with an opportunity and I took it!

It was really easy to make and fast too!

Pregnant Best Friend

Here are some pictures of my best friend Nicki. She is due September 5th. She doesn't look very big, but she tells me that the baby is crammed up in her rib cage.

The last picture is her opening up the hat I knit for her. See my blog to get a clearer picture of it.

Still No News

I'm wrapping up my first month of TTC with Clomid. I'm going test on Thursday the 27th, that'll be 35days since my period.

I started a new blog about all the things I've been knitting. There's only a few things posted.

Loopy Hat Instructions

I started using this basic hat pattern from lion brand using the type of yarn I had bought for an earlier project. I knew that I was knitting loose so I switched needle sizes to a 5 US. Once I got started it became clear to me that I was still knitting too loose and so the size of the hat was not going to be for a 3-6 month old as I had intended.

That was when I decided to get creative. As I said earlier I've been wanting to try the "Funky Spaghetti Hat" I saw on Knitty Gritty, but what adult would wear such a thing. I saw my opportunity in a pint size version and since the intended victim-er recipient was not yet born I knew it would be certain to fit.

The following is the pattern I modified to fit my purpose.

Materials:

1 ball MC

1 ball secondary color

size 8 needles

dpn in size 8

stitch marker

(you can use any hat pattern you would like)

Abbreviations:

MC -Main color

co -cast on

yo -yarn over

k2tog -knit two stitches together

dpn -double pointed needles

Instructions:

With MC co 56 stitches

garter stitch (knit every row) 4 rows

place stitch marker

join to knit in round and knit 4 rows

Round 1 (yarn over row) k17, yo, k2tog, k17, yo, k2tog, k16, yo, k2tog

knit 3 rows

switch to secondary color knit 1 row

switch to MC knit 1 row

switch to secondary color knit 2 rows

Round 8 k7, yo, k2tog, k16, yo, k2tog, k17, yo, k2tog, k10

Round 9- 15 knit

Round 16 repeat row 1

Round 17 & 18 knit

Round 19 switch to MC and knit 1 row

Round 20 switch to secondary color and knit 1 row

Round 21 switch to MC and knit 1 Row

Round 22 repeat row 8

Round 23-25 knit

Split the stitches evenly. Put one half of the stitches on a stitch holder and the other half on one needle. St st 5rows and transfer them to a stitch holder.

Put the remaining half of the stitches on to one needle and St St for 5 rows.

Bind off both needles together (sort of like knitting two together) when I find another reference to this I'll post a link. **or you can just bind off and sew the two sides together**

There will be a hole on either side of the hat and that is all right because we are going to thread the i-cord through it.

i-cord loops

With dpn and MC cast on 3 stitches

with out turning the work SLIDE the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit

then SLIDE the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit

continue doing this until your length of cord reaches 24-48 inches. You may need more or less i-cord depending on the size of your hat and the spaces between the holes. I threaded my i-cord as I went so that I didn't make too much or too little.

when your i-cord is long enough bind off and (if you haven't already) thread it through one of the holes in the side of the hat and then over and under through the holes you made. Make sure that inside the hat the i-cord is flat against the sides. On the outside they can stick out to form loops.

Finishing

I looped my ends around to form "ears" on either side of my hat and secured it with a knot on the inside of the hat.

I braided four strands of yarn together to make ties to go around the chin.

Just a Note about Creativity

There is no need to follow this pattern exactly. If you are using your own hat pattern you can do some math and evenly space the holes or if you a more of a "free spirit" you can put the yarn over holes wherever you want.

Corrections

Please tell me if you run into problems making this hat so that I can make the appropriate adjustments to this pattern.

Loopy Hat

"What are you making?!"
"Why are there holes in it?"
"Now what are you doing to it?


That is what various family members kept saying to me as I knitted this hat.

I understand their skepticism. After all why put holes in a perfectly good hat?

This hat is what happens when I get bored with the normal.
I first saw this hat on Knitty Gritty a show I used to watch when I had cable. It took me a long time to find the actual pattern to this hat and once I had found it I had already started it from memory.

I call this "Loopy Hat" although it's original name is "Spaghetti Hat" but that name never made any sense to me. Do you see Spaghetti when you look at this hat? I don't.

I made this hat for a soon-to-be born baby girl. She won't be able to wear this hat until she is about 2 (I'm a little shaky on the size of the hat I had some problems) if I got the size right. The size was supposed to be 3-6 months, but the brown knits up a little looser than I first thought and it came out much larger than anticipated.

It was a lot of fun to make. I started out making a basic hat and added the holes as I went. I decided to use two colors because I wasn't sure how much of the brown I had. Turns out that the brown and the pink have different gauges, but I think it came out all right regardless. For the loops I toyed with putting stripes in it, but decided that would be too much work and too busy for an already "out there" hat. I knitted the i-cord (the loops) using a strand of pink and of brown. I think the i-cord loops are a little thick and I wouldn't do that again.

I'm going to try the hat on a one-year old at the daycare and see how it fits her, that will give me a better idea of how big it is. I'm wondering if it will be comfortable. It's a little "wonky". I'll post pics of the inside and a pattern for it later this week.

Puppy Love

I got this book Knitted Toys when I was looking for something to challenge myself with. I started out knitting a "Cinderella Doll" for my flower girl (sadly I did not take a picture of it!) and it came out better than I expected.

A friend of mine became pregnant and so I thought to myself that I might try my hand again at knitting a toy. This time I set my sights on a knitted puppy dog that incorporated some intarsia which I had been wanting to try.

The intarsia (the dark brown part) came out a lot better than I could have guessed. I think he came out really cute! I did not give him up, however.

After finishing him I just could not bear the thought of giving him away! I decided to keep him and give him to my first born child (whenever that will happen).

If you'd like the pattern I'd be more than happy to give it to you!

Knitting

I have been thinking about this blog for a little while now. I keep telling myself "Delia, you need to take pictures of the things that you make." I took that thought a little further, because I enjoy looking at the things that other people have made I thought that maybe people might want to see what I have made too!

I hope you enjoy this.