Baby Hats

I like knitting for my granddaughter, who was born last summer. One problem is that usually I have no idea how old she is going to be when a particular item will fit. I knit two baby size hats using the same pattern, one tiny and one bigger. I was not necessarily trying to achieve different sizes, it was just how they turned out based on the yarn I chose from my stash.

The pattern I used for both hats is called Pixie Baby Cap, available on Ravelry. Yarn for the first hat is Lang Amira 93% cotton / 7 % nylon. It is described as a “chainette” yarn with suggested needle size of nine or ten. It is really soft.

I cast on with a size nine needle, but after knitting for a few inches I started over with size eight. Following is a photo showing the beginning of the project.

This is one of those patterns where you have no idea what is going on but just have to go with it, and eventually it starts to make sense.

It is knitted flat and then folded in half, with one side seamed that becomes the top. The next image is from the pattern.

Following are photos showing the hat ready to seam the top with a three needle bind off, and then part way done with the bind off.

The pattern suggested making I-Cord for the ties. I tried to make a length of I-Cord using three stitches, but it was too thick. I abandoned that and instead cut three lengths of yarn for each tie, pulled them through the corner, and braided it. It came out more appropriately sized for the hat. Following is a photo of the hat, with one braided tie attached, and the too thick I-Cord below.

This pattern is quick to knit, and unless you are trying to get a certain exact size, you don’t have to worry much about gauge.

I gave the hat to my son and daughter-in-law for the baby. I never got a photo and now she is too big for this size.

The second hat from the same pattern was knit with 50% acrylic / 40% wool / 10% nylon Berroco Vintage Chunky yarn. It came out bigger. I may have cast on more stitches. Once you figure out how the pattern works, it is easy to make it with different sizes of yarn or a different number of stitches. I did not take any work-in-progress photos, but following are pictures of the finished blue version of the hat.

Recently we were in St. Paul visiting James and Kelsey (and more importantly, Blair haha). The blue hat was just the right size, and the weather was cool enough to warrant wearing it on a walk outside.

Last year I posted about a baby sweater I had knit out of the same blue yarn. I gave the sweater to Kelsey at the baby shower before Blair was born. Following is the link for the blog post about the sweater: https://yarnsfromthelake.com/2023/08/10/baby-ensemble/

I had forgotten about the blue sweater at the time Blair was wearing the hat. Later Kelsey found it in the closet and sent me a couple of Instagram worthy photos with the hat and sweater on together. Love Love Love!!

The sweater is a little big. Maybe if she is going to wear it out of the house she will also have pants on. I could sew some cute matching baby pants, but I will have to decide if I really want to break out the sewing machine. It is going to be a busy summer, so I have to be careful not to plan more projects than I can really do.