It's been a busy fall, but I wanted to get this last knitting post in (I do have one more baby hat on the needles, and I might get it done in time. Oh, and I have a headband that deserves its own post...). Okay, this is likely the second last post!
I've been knitting simple baby hats for a local charity. Newborn size goes to the hospital, bigger sizes go to other organizations. I got this basic pattern in 2020:
With DK yarn, 3.75mm needle, cast on 70. Rib for 3". Switch to 4mm and stockinette for 2". Decrease 7 stitches every other row (Row 1: Knit 8, Knit 2 together and repeat; Row 3: Knit 7, Knit 2 together, repeat; Row 5: Knit 6, Knit 2 together, repeat; etc). The pattern was written for knitting flat. If you do, I suggest adding a stitch so when you seam, you still get the decreases at the top spread evenly. I knit them in the round--Magic Loop style--so no seaming needed. I also use an alternate cable cast on. It's really nice for ribbing. I got the instructions from Montse Stanley's "Knitter's Handbook" but I assume instructions can be found online these days.
I often fluctuate with the number of stitches. I like 72 st so I can do 8 decreases at the top (knit 7, k2tog around the top). I will also drop down the number of stitches if I'm running low on yarn, or it's a thicker yarn.
These all came from one large ball of sparkly baby yarn. It has really long colour changes, with a slight shift of the colour between the colours (rather than red-bam!-blue, it's red-plum-violet-blue). I realized with the first hat if I just knit from the ball, I might end up with most of the hat one colour and a bit at the top another colour. So after doing the cuff on the first one (the one in the middle above), I decided to stripe them using a complimentary colour further in the sequence.
I didn't want to end up with orange and green...or pink and green...or purple and green, so blue and green was the only option. However, with the gradual shift, it's not as obvious striping at the top.
This striping technique left me with some small balls left over. I used the Helix method (evenly space 3 or more balls, knit to the next ball, drop the old yarn and pick up the new one without twisting), and I thought when one of the colours ran out, I'd just keep going. It didn't look good. So I adjusted stitch counts and height. And I also miscounted the tiny one--instead of 72st I had 62 stitches.
All together, these 7 hats weighed 118gr.
These three were an attempt to use up a small amount of a pink yarn I found in my stash. It's hard to see, but I also used a fuzzy, thinner white yarn for some stripes. Together, they weigh 52gr.
These blue ones also have the same fuzzy thin white yarn. They weigh 57gr, with the one below.
Another random small ball from the stash.
The sparkly hats were started on a trip to Jamaica in mid-October. I'm trying to be realistic when I pack projects for trips. One ball of yarn was all I took and it was more than enough. When we went camping in Quebec after Labour Day, I took two balls--one black, one this Red Heart neon stripes. Like the baby yarn, this yarn has fairly long sections when you're only using <100sts. Black might seem odd for baby or child hats, but it's quite practical! It's hard to see since they're on a black background, but the rolled edge is in black for all of them.
This is Purl Soho's "Garter Ear Flap Hat", a free pattern. I misread the pattern, and the first hat I actually frogged (even though it wasn't all that different, it still bugged me). I made a couple different sizes. I even made a sort of spread sheet version of the pattern so I didn't have to read so much text. I put the sizes across the top, and the actions down the left, and the number of times, or the stitches needed, in the cells. All together, these weigh 234gr. Because it's a worsted weight yarn, they aren't suitable for the newborn hats for the hospital...a light worsted is okay but this definitely felt too bulky).
One last little hat snuck in. I had started a few versions but kept running out of the green. So I went with the simple 2 row stripes, on 72 stitches. I have green left over. The white fuzzy yarn is never ending. This hat weighs 22gr.
All together, these little hats used up 483gr of yarn--over a pound!
Yarn In: 0 grams
Yarn Out: 2005gr + 483gr = 2488gr
Balance: 2488gr more OUT than in
Costs: $0
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