Week 1 is always a short week in my 40 in 40 challenge, as it starts on Wednesday and therefore only 4 projects need to be made. This year I am attempting to only use stash yarn for my projects. While I have a large stash, this still makes choosing patterns a bit difficult for me.
I tend to bookmark patterns all year that I come across for baby hats. Then, every week I select my patterns for the week, and lastly I check to see if I have the right yarn.....In the past, if I didn't then I
got had to make a trip to purchase some new yarn. This year I will have to select a different pattern.....sigh.....
But that wasn't a problem this week. All 4 hats use worsted weight yarn. So let me show you what I chose.
My first two hats come from the same pattern, the
2 Hearts Newborn Hat designed by Kelly Forster. You can find the pattern free on Ravelry. The first is made using knit and purl stitches to cause the heart to "pop out" of the hat. The pattern calls for an i-cord at the top of the hat that I chose to leave off. I worked this in Hobby Lobby's Crafter's Secret yarn in Nosegay.
The second is my first ever attempt at fair isle knitting. I have to admit that my go around I left LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG threads between the heart patterns (floats) without tacking them which looked really sloppy and messy on the inside. So I frogged (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it go ahead and say it out loud and you will understand why I call it that!) it and started over. In hind sight, I might have done better to simply do this in intarsia (which I have never done before either!). Still I really like the finished project. This was worked in the Crafter's Secret yarn in Nosegay and in Red Heart Super Savers in Amythest.
I changed the decreases on the second hat from the written instructions. The hat I worked in Nosegay had a k2tog at the beginning and end of each dpn. On my second hat I worked a k2tog at the beginning of each dpn and a ssk at the end of each needle. You can see the difference below:
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| k2tog at the begiining and end |
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| k2tog at the beginning and ssk at the end |
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| Ella Bonnet |
My third hat for the week was the preemie size
Ella bonnet designed by Allison Booker, also available on Ravelry as a free download. Unfortunately, I misread the materials needed and mine came out a bit different than the designer intended. The pattern calls for 8 mm needles, which I mistakenly read as size 8 needles, which yielded a much different fabric! Still I like the outcome, even if it is a bit more open. And in my defense, I had spent the day shopping and setting up for an American Heritage Girls lock in and was actually working on this hat in the dark while the girls were watching a movie! I used Simply Soft yarn in off white for this project. I then worked a 2 stitch i-cord for about 10 inches, attached it to one side of the bonnet and used a G hook to sc around to the other side. I worked a 2nd 2 stitch i-cord, attached it to this side and the sc around the remaining portion of the hat.
My final hat for week 1 I wanted something quick with a simple, repeating pattern to follow since I hadn't slept much the night before. Myshelle Cole's pattern,
Noah, to the rescue!
Also worked with Simply Soft, this pattern uses a technique I had never done before. The 2nd hdc is worked around the post of the previous hdc - not the hdc of the previous row, but the one one just worked on the
same row. It gives a unique open weave design. The entire hat is worked in sc and hdc. And if you decide to give the pattern a try, be sure to look around her website as she has many other preemie patterns available as well.
So that is what was on my hook and needles this week. What was on yours?
Until next time,
