Monday, January 25, 2010

FO: Birth Hat for Susan's baby

The Sweetie's cousin just had a baby boy. I'd planned to make this hat over the Christmas break, but you know what happened. Then the baby arrived 2 weeks before the due date (thankfully, my lack of knitting progress didn't hold the baby up). So I quickly whipped this out as I was able.

Pattern: The birth hat pattern I'm still tinkering with, with a fussy tubular cast-on that turned out looking okay after all.
Needles: Size 3 for cast-on, size 5 for knitting.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

I didn't have a chance to weigh it, as I wanted to get it in the mail ASAP - I cast on 72 sts instead of 64 but neglected to knit it for a full 4 inches before starting the decreases (more like 3 inches - eek!).

Notes: The fiddly tubular cast-on was TechKnitting's 1x1 "Provisional tail" method, with extra help from commenter Rose Fox on how to slip the stitches when doing it in the round.

I cast on 72 stitches instead of 64, since I was running a bit late. I think I'll keep it bigger anyway. The trick was that I then had 9 repeats instead of 8. I continued with the decreases the way I had been anyway, and when I got down to 9 sts, I did 3 double decreases (centered, but I don't think that mattered much), then did the I-cord in 3-st I-cord instead of 4 stitches. I like it. Might keep it.

Next hat (and I've just found out a 2nd cousin of mine is expecting his first in May) I might try to do top-down, starting with the I-cord and finishing with a tubular bind-off. That might allow for less fiddling.

2 comments:

kathy b said...

Oh. It is a sweet sweet hat. Sorry it was so fiddly. fiddly- didly.

RobinH said...

Hey, does this mean you figured out your new camera? Hat looks adorable! And what's with the 'everyone you know has babies at once'. I get that too, then we go a couple of years, and then they all get pregnant together again.