Making good

"Mommy, we make a hat for Zacky. He have a big giant head."

This was the beginning (and oft-repeated) sentence of a conversation that took place over several days and ended with not one, but two hats. The first, the aforementioned hat for Zacky, was necessitated by, as Becky noted, Zack's big giant head (he gets that from his father. I have a pinhead.). He outgrew last year's hat, and with winter upon us and funds less available than they have been in years past, knitting him a hat out of some chunky alpaca leftovers seemed like a great idea. Becky happened to be present at the out-loud conversation I had with myself about this, and was very enthusiastic.

I finally (read: after Becky nagged me to death for a few days) gathered the yarn bits and cast on. Becky wanted very much to help, so I sat her on my lap and we made a few stitches together. I think she's going to be a natural. But I digress. As we were knitting this hat, Becky informed me that she, too, would like a new hat. Knitted by mommy. Now, please, if not sooner. And green. It must be green. Are you sure you want green, I asked, since her favorite color has been blue for quite some time now. Yes, she assured me, green must be the color of the hat, though blue is still her favorite color. (If I dwell on things like this I'm going to be a raving, frothing maniac by the time she's five.). And not just any green -- the same green that was in Zacky's hat (I tried to present her with some lovely stash yarn that was more of a grass green -- no dice). No problem, I say. I'm going to the yarn store where I bought this yarn (last year) at the end of the week, and I'll just pick up a skein then.

Those of you who have done similar things are having a good laugh right about now, and you're right. They actually had lots of the brand and style of the alpaca (Misti Alpaca bulky, if you're interested), but nothing even close to the green. (They did, of course, have the blue. I could feel my inner maniac developing a twitch.) So I searched high and low, and finally picked up a ball of Mission Falls 136 Merino. I presented her with it the following morning and asked (a bit trepidatiously -- she's still prone to tantrums over the smallest thing on occasion, though she's getting better) if it would be an acceptable substitute. After not a little consideration, and a cookie bribe that I'm not terribly proud of, she decided that yes, Mommy could use this other yarn.

I really just wanted to make a quick, easy hat that wouldn't bore me to death. So I doubled up the yarn, cast on some stitches, and knitted up a nice ribby thing with a little twist.



I wrote up the pattern and posted it over in the sidebar for your knitting pleasure. It took me about 3 hours to knit, and I'm a pretty slow knitter. If you're not into the twist, just skip it and knit the ribs all the way up. If you want to make it bigger, you're probably going to need more yarn -- I had a total of 7 yards left over (not doubled). It's very stretchy, so to make it bigger I'd actually just make it longer before beginning the decreases, but if you really want to make it wider, just add stitches in multiples of 5 and you should be fine. Enjoy!

I did not write up the pattern for Zack's hat because the sizing would be off for most kids. The boy has a seriously large head (see below). Basically, it's just a knitted tube and I sewed straight across the top.

posted by Laura Y. @ 10:58 AM