Hats, Hats and More Hats...

So I have found the easiest baby hat pattern on earth. I've got some babies coming (one friend due in January, and my sister is awaiting her first grandchild), so I thought I'd do some baby things. I was looking to do hats but I didn't want anything too complex, at least till I finish this last MBA class. I need mindless knitting.

And I found it!! Go to http://www.redheart.com/ and look for "free patterns." Under that, see if you can find Sweet Baby Hat. On top of the fact that they have the most angelic baby modeling this hat, you'll find an oh-so-simple hat that literally whips together in a couple of hours. And I'm no speed-knitter.

For the swift knitters out there, if you wanted a stash-buster, you could whip through as many of these as you could stand over a weekend and fill an entire "Giving Tree" at your church or favorite charity. The size is both preemie and baby so you have a couple of options there as well.



Hats for a baby girl

 Here's a shot of the "girl" hats I've done so far. Both hats have a "grape" stripe in them and the hot pink hat actually has 2 wide stripes. The "berry" one  on the right has three "grape" stripes. The pink hat was the first one I made. I figured out after that one that it's best to put the stripes above the roll-up ribbed brim! Oh well - it won't matter in the least to the baby, and I'm sure my friend Allison won't care if the stripe shows. The "grape" doesn't show up well in this picture, but you can tell it when you see them in person.

I really like the Simply Soft yarn for this project. It has a nice sheen to it; the colors are certainly bright and cheerful! And it's washable, light enough so it won't be too bulky for a little baby, and it holds its shape really well.

I suppose if you wanted a rolled-brim, you could omit the K2P2 rib on the bottom inch-and-a-half and just do Stockinette all the way to the crown. That way, you could also stripe it as you wanted. Or you could make the K2P2 rib in one color and add the main color after that.

The nice thing is, these are knit flat - you sew up the back seam and you're good to go. I do have some hat patterns for knitting circulars, but I don't have time at the moment to learn the ins-and-outs of DPNs, so this is a quick and easy solution.

The first "boy" hat is done as of this afternoon: the bright lemon yellow with lime green stripes. My hubby joked that, since this was our nephew's first baby, he might "misplace" the boy...but if he just looks for this extremely bright hat, he's likely to find the baby wearing it! I may do the berry with the yellow or lime green stripe next.

The options are endless: you can use the recommended variegated yarn; you could do double-stitching and do a solid hat with a pattern stitched atop the knitting. Since it's a baby hat, I'd avoid buttons or beads - there's so much you can do with yarn that you really don't need any extra stuff on these hats.

Check your stash, pull out your size 8 needles and get cracking - Christmas is coming and I'm sure that if you don't have any babies coming, your favorite charity could use some hats for the cooler weather. Hospitals are often looking for preemie hats. Homeless shelters can also use the help. Have a "Knit Along" or a mini-Olympics in your knitting group and have awards for "most creative," "most hats knitted," "most colorful," etc. You can do this project in one sitting.

Enjoy!