Youngest's Hat...Finished

The picture still isn't the greatest.   The weather here has been pretty dreary the last couple of days so there wasn't much natural light to utilize. 

Add to that the fact that no matter what I tried, I just could NOT get that little bugger to sit still long enough to get a good picture.   So I ended up with a poorly lit picture of the back of his head.  Tadaaa!

The hat itself went along just fine until I hit the last 4".   I ended up working the wrong ribbing and had to frog the whole bottom 4.  This may not seem like such a big deal to more experienced knitters, but I STINK at frogging and it took me a good 45, anxiety filled, minutes to rip it back that mere 4".

I did it though and was happy with the final result...that is until I went to sew the sides together.   I tackled the sewing at around 2 am. after a very long day and I was downright exhausted.   The next morning I took a look at the hat.  It was a disaster.  

I had sewed it cock-eyed so that the stripes didn't match up.  The darker yarns hadn't been worked in properly and were really visible amongst the white sections and one corner was very much so rounded while the other came to a nice point.  Chock that up to a craft fail.

Soooo, I had to rip the seams and sew it all over again.  Fortunately though that didn't take very long and the finished product turned out by the end of it all.  

Now, on to more projects.

Youngest's Hat

Knitting seems to take me forever.   I'm still working on Youngest's hat, the one that I started about 4 weeks ago.    This is the second attempt I've made at using different colors in a project, the first was in Middle's hat.  

I'm hoping to get finished with Youngest's hat by the end of the week.   Even though it's almost spring (thank you God!), we still get some pretty chilly evenings up in my neck of the woods so he should be able to wear it for several more weeks to come.   

The stripes in the image came out looking a little more black then they actually are.   In reality the are more of a chocolate brown.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a better picture later on.

Speaking of Spring, we've finally gotten some of our seeds planted.  I didn't get a picture yet but we've planted our carrots, charantais melons, radishes, greens, the early season tomatoes, and some squash.    We have a short growing season up in the frozen north so I can't get them in the ground yet, but hopefully in about 2 weeks I'll be able to get them into the garden without having to worry about a late frost.  

Another nice thing about Spring is that we get to come out of hybernation mode and start back into our more productive routine.   Spring is one of the busiest times of year for my family but it's also one of our favorite times of year.   Can't wait.     

Crochet preemie hat

This is another preemie hat I just recently finished for the local Children's Hospital.   The pattern is very easy, it only calls for single crochets and chain stitches.  So it's well suited for beginners.   I found the hat pattern here.

The swirly topper I found here.

But the hat could be finished with a tassle or pompoms or nothing at all. 

Middle's Stocking Cap

I finally finished Middle's stocking cap.    It's a variation of the pattern seen here.

It's a little big on him but I like it all the same.

It gives him room to grow into it, I guess.

Micro-preemie hat

I made this cute micro-preemie hat for the local Children's Hospital.  

It's made with 100% cotton, Lily Sugar n' cream yarn.

I tested it's fit on Youngest's teddy bear, "Mr. Cuddlebear"

The pattern is simple:

but I'm having a little technical difficulty with the website so I'll have to post the link to it later.

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EDIT:  Technical problems resolved...here's the link to the hats.

 

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My First Attempt at Knitting in the Round

This was my very first attempt at knitting in the round.

As I've mentioned on here before, I'm new to the knitting scene.

Since I've taken up this new passion about 4 months ago, I've knitted one hat for oldest, one for youngest (that didn't fit) and now this one for me, myself and I.

I still have to knock out one for middle.  I have my eye set on one that I think will be really cute for him but I wanted to try knitting a larger one in the round first.  I figured that it would be easier to go larger.  I don't remember the logic behind that thinking at the moment...

It fits pretty nicely and definately keeps my head toasty warm.

It took about 3 days and that's with almost constant interruption (as in...sit down, knit 5, "MOM!", get back up, sit down, knit 6 ,"MOMMY!", you get the idea)

*Thank you to Fremont Frog for modeling for me, I'm a wee bit camera shy*

Aside from a rocky start (I could NOT for the life of me figure out how to eliminate that giant gap in between the first and last stitches when I joined the round.  SO, I googled it.  There's almost no problem google can't solve.  Turns out, you just pull the the first knit stitch you make when joining the round extra tightly.  Who knew?) I think it went pretty smoothly. 

I used leftover worsted weight variegated yarn.

A size 8 16in. circular needle

4 size 7 DPNs.

1 tapestry needle

stitch marker

The hat is done in a basic pattern.

Using the circular needle, cast on 70.

K1 P1 for about 2 inches.

Then knit in stockinette (knit each stitch) for about 6 inches.

K8 K2tog for 1 row

Knit the next row

(You'll want to switch to the DPNs about now)

K7 K2tog for 1 row

Knit the next row

K6 K2tog for the next row

Keep going like that until you K2tog across the row and/or you have about 6 sts remaining.

Cut thread leaving about a 4 inch tail.

Thread tail through tapestry needle and then carefully weave through remaining sts, pull tightly.

Weave in your ends, making sure to finish with a little bit of your tail left over on the wrong side of you hat.

And that's it. FIN.