After I finished the hat for EJ’s dolly, I had to make one for him. I measured his head first, and the thing is 20 inches around, which is kind of nuts, but whatever. He was pretty stoked that I decided to make him a hat. He’s really fascinated by my knitting, so I think I’ll teach him next year when he has better motor skills. He’s pretty bright.

I used the same Paton’s Classic Wool Merino that I’d used for the doll’s hat, but I cast on 48 stitches this time. Maybe it’s overkill, but I don’t know for sure until EJ tries on the hat. Sammy graciously agreed to try it on again (she’s a great gal, that Sammy). I think the width is correct, but it might be too long.

I’m really proud because I finally (after two days, I know) figured out how to do the mattress stitch properly. I really liked the finished product on the hat, but now I wonder, how would the mattress stitch seam work on hats that are flipped back up on the bottom? What seam is used then? Or haven’t I figured out mattress stitch to the degree I think I have? Oy. I will keep looking around and see if I can figure this out.

So, I had such a good time making the first 1 hour hat that I decided to make one for my nephew, Satanski. I didn’t want to use the crappy acrylic from the first hat, so I got some wool out of my stash. I held two strands of Paton’s Classic Merino Wool together and cast on 16 stitches, since Satanski is only 2.

That was a pretty horrible idea. I could see pretty much straight away that this thing was not going to be nearly big enough, but since I’d already started, I decided to continue and make a hat for the baby doll that Satanski alternately nurtures and bludgeons, according to his mood.

Obviously, this tiny hat took next to no time to make (although it did take a minute or so of wrestling to fit it on the doll’s surprisingly massive head).

I made Allison Blevins’ 1 hour hat. It took me a little longer than an hour, but all in all, not horrible for my first hat. What WAS horrible was the fabric I was using, Schoeller + Stahl’s Big Ball. I originally bought it for use in a baby blanket, which I actually did make and finish. I got the yarn for the LYS, and showed the very helpful owner the pattern that I wanted to make. She suggested that I modify it to make better use of the yarn, and gave me a pattern based on the blanket I wanted to make. Unfortunately, though, my lack of spatial ability came back to bite me in the butt, because I followed the instructions exactly — never wondering why I only had to cast on 64 stitches — and ended up with a blanket more appropriate for a doll than a human infant. SO! I decided to make another one, and though I found more appropriate lengths for the blanket, but for some reason or another, kept ballsing it up before I’d ever gotten to a decent length.

But that was a while ago, so I forgot 1) that I had a boatload of that yarn left and 2) that I kind of hated the feel of it, because it was actually really pretty, foreign, acrylic (ugh). So I bought more, and now I have 2.5 balls of that stuff left, which, no. Not cool at all. So I used it to make a hat, which came out pretty cute, despite the cheap acrylic it was made from.

So. My first hat, as modeled by Sammy, teddy bear extraordinaire!