Lovely little turtle's crafts blog: March 2015

Knitted baby hats

A new year has already begun and I missed all the opportunities for posts with Christmas ideas, (and St.Valentines tips as a matter of fact) and not that I don't have any ideas, I simply lack time...., or decent organizational skills as a mother of two kids (these are really hard to get - the decent organizational skills, as motherhood is filled with unexpected turns of events. Just this morning, when I thought that we have steady waking up routine around 8:00, my younger daughter woke up at 5:20). Veeery nice!

I've always prided myself on being good at organizing others, but parenthood proves me wrong. It is such a overwhelming duty, you either want to spend all your time with your little ones or you just want to escape from them with Alice in "No Kids Ever Again Wonderland". Well, no regrets have ever been shedded, but it is true that life is so much simpler without kids. You just have time for whatever you want, and oh, the simplicity to enjoy time.... But also it is true that when you have kids, you realize you have never before been happier. :)

'Children are not things to be moulded, but people to be unfolded' Jess Lair

Well aaaaanyway, this was supposed to be a post about knitted baby hats, not about my misconception of time. It is true however that with the scares bit of time I have, I craft more than blog. Knitting has been very relaxing lately and I have managed to complete few projects. And proud to say my first own design of (baby) hats. Well, here it is:

Knitted baby hats pattern:

Free pattern for knitted baby/toddler and kids hats

Needed materials:

Yarn - Novita Isoveli (75 % wool and 25 % polyamide) - main color A and a bit extra color B
Socks needles - size 5
Time: around 4 hours/ hat for a slow knitter like myself :)

Pattern:

Before I start writing, I need to warn you that I have not mastered the secret Morse code of writing knitting patterns :) and if something seems a bit confusing, don't hesitate to ask in the comments.

Here it comes:

Baby Hat for 3-9 months old (the burgundy hat in the picture)

Cast off 60 stitches and distribute over to the socks needles - 4 x 15 stitches (or 15 stitches per needle). Start with the main color A.

1. K3, P2, rep to end of rnd, 6 rnds for making the ribbing of the hat
7. YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st and transfer the neighboring sts over the knitted middle one, follow the same pattern when transferring, first the left st, then the right), YO, 2K, *to end of rnd
8. K all * to end of rnd
9. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
10. K all * to end of rnd
11. (Change to color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
12. K all * to end of rnd
13. ( still Color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
14. K all * to end of rnd
15. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
16. K all * to end of rnd
17. (Change to color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
18. K all * to end of rnd
19. (still Color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
20. K all * to end of rnd
21. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
22. K all * to end of rnd
23. K13, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
24. K12, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
25. K11, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
26. K10, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
27. K9, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
28. K8, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.

Cut yarn. Weave through remaining sts and tie off. Weave in ends. And you are done!

Baby Hat 9-24 months old (the white hat in the picture)

Cast off 65 stitches and distribute over the needles or 3 x 16 stitches and 1 x 17 stitches. Start with the main color A.

1. K3, P2, rep to end of rnd, 9 rnds for making the ribbing of the hat
10. YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st and transfer the neighboring sts over the knitted middle one, follow the same pattern when transferring, first the left st, then the right), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
11. K all * to end of rnd
12. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
13. K all * to end of rnd
14. (Change to color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
15. K all * to end of rnd
16. ( still Color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
17. K all * to end of rnd
18. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
19. K all * to end of rnd
20. (Change to color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
21. K all * to end of rnd
21. (still Color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
23. K all * to end of rnd
24. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
25. K all * to end of rnd
26. (Change to color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
27. K all * to end of rnd
28. (still Color A) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
29. K all * to end of rnd
30. (Change color B) YO, 3x1 (by K only the middle st), YO, 2K, rep to end of rnd
31. K all * to end of rnd
32. K14 (on one of the needle you have to K15), K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
33. K13, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
34. K12, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
35. K11, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
36. K10, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
37. K9, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.
38. K8, K2Tog, rep to end of rnd.

Cut yarn. Weave through remaining sts and tie off. Weave in ends. And you are done with the bigger hat too!

Or in other words, in order to make the hat's diameter longer, I increased it with 5 stitches, because that is how many stitches contain one pattern of the ribbing (or K3+P2 = 5 Sts). And in order to make the hat bigger, I increased the hat with one more repetition of the color A and B (or with 6 rnds = 4 rnds color A and 2 rnds color B). With the same logic you can make this pattern from a pattern for a baby/ toddler hat to a pattern for an adult by increasing the diameter and the length of the hat.

I also made baby mittens to match the burgundy hat, which design I copied from another pair of mittens and I will share with you in another post. The mittens and the hat were the initial a gift for a Naming Ceremony of a friend's daughter, but my friend loved the hat so much, so I received an order for a bigger hat (sounds funny, she just asked for another). Nice isn't it? A recognition of my first very own design of knitted baby hat :).