old hat new hat

Welcome to my world... on one of the rare occasions when I can see my toes! Baby C is baking away at the start of her 6th month (24 weeks yesterday); time is flying by. I feel her move regularly now, although some days she's very quiet and sedate, and other days she enjoys tap dancing and stretching her arms and legs--I have days like that too, so I understand. When I laugh really hard, she usually either rolls around or pops me one... I'm looking forward to laughing together! (To this, R says, "Oh boy.") :)

This is one of the few pre-pregnancy shirts I can still wear--it's funny to move through so many sizes at such a fast pace.

So the quilt I am so excited about will have to wait during the Christmas season... I have a few other projects I'm working on, but they will remain mum until they are given. :) These, I can share, however:

Pattern: Earflap Hat & Thumbless Mittens

Book: Knitting for Baby: 30 Heirloom Projects

Needles: Size 9 dpns and straight needles

Yarn: Red Heart Artesano (surprisingly soft, but I wish I had used a larger needle for a looser gauge)

This is the only pattern I gasped at when flipping through this book... and for me, that means I had to make it. I keep calling it a Flapjack hat instead of Earflap... :) What an easy pattern! Total time it took to knit: ~3 hours. You knit the hat like a regular ole hat on the double pointed needles, and the side flaps and ties are knit separately. You seam them together, and voila. Adorable. I'd like to add a pom-pom on top.

I think little one might end up with a lot of hats because they are so cute, and so quick to knit... Hopefully she doesn't hate having things on her head!

This next one took me less than two hours--we were watching All About Eve when I made this one. It reminds me of a hat in a book I used to read all the time: Old Hat, New Hat, by Jan Berenstain.

Pattern: Baby Ruffle Hat (Ravelry)

Click here if you don't have a Ravelry account... and then sign up for one. :)

Needles: Size 8 circular needles, size 8 dpns
Yarn: Simply Soft

LOVE this pattern. I've never knit a ruffled edge before--and honestly, at first, I was a little frustrated. You cast on 256 stitches, then knit two together for a couple of rows... This is a little trying at first, and I was getting a little tired of re-counting 256 every time I had to start over, but once my fingers got the hang of it, I was on my way. The rest is just stockinette stitch and decreases. I really love this yarn, A) for its price, B) for how soft it is, and C) how it holds its shape. I also would like to embellish this one with a couple of flowers, like on the original pattern.

More soon...