Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Revisiting the Sweet Baby Cap

My son has a ginormous head. He's 19 months old, but is wearing 2T-3T hats. Huge. I just measured him and he has a 19 inch head, but the standard head size for a "child" is 18 inches. I love that sweet baby cap and I want to do it again, but in the appropriate size for him. I'm calling it 3T, but it could be considered "child" size, I think. So, doing the math, I came up with 139 for the cast on. That's also adjusted for having all the sections be even length... because I'm a dork like that.

So, here's my final pattern (I think) mostly taken from the original but just with the tweaking described above:

Gauge: 24 stitches = 4 inches

Needles: Size 2 & 3 circular needles

Yarn: JoAnn Sensations Kashmira

Sizes: 3T / Child

CO 139 stitches with size 2 circular needle, join then knit 7 rounds in garter stitch (purl one round, then knit one round) then change to 3 mm needles and knit the rest in stockinette stitch, changing colors as you see fit.

At the same time:

On the next round, increase and decrease as follows:
k1, M1, k21, slip 1 - knit 2 tog tbl - ­ psso, k 21, M1, k1, M1
k 21, slip 1 - knit 2 tog tbl - psso, k 21, M1, k1, M1, k 21, slip 1 - knit 2 tog tbl - psso, k 21, M1, k1

Repeat these increases and decreases every other round for 11, or 12 or 13 (depends on the size you want - an older kid will need more length in the hat) more rounds. Then do only the decreases every other round until there are 10 stitches left. Then k2tog until only one stitch is left, break yarn and thread through remaining stitches.

I like to attach twisted cord to the ear flaps. You can do i-cord or crocheted cord, too, if you prefer.

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