I’ve taken a bit of a break on my OpArt blanket. I’m up to 116 stitches in each section, and I’m still doing one or two rounds per day, but it’s kind of boring me right now. This is exactly why I started four months before the baby’s due. My nephew saw me seaming some booties that I made for our baby cousin, and asked me when I was going to knit him something. I have been meaning to do so for a while, and I do need a break from the blanket, so I decided to make him a scarf. At first, I was going to do something basic and maybe practice my Continental knitting, but then the stylista in me won out. I do not put my nephew in boring clothes when I’m buying them, so why would I do it when I’m making them?? Plus, I still have this idea in my head for the sweater, and I kind of want to see how my designing goes on something child-sized, before trying my hand at anything as involved as a sweater. I will get back to Continental knitting again at some point in my life, but not now.

I worked out my pattern in Google’s spreadsheet program, using letter abbreviations. Then I looked online for a pattern generator and found a good one, but it didn’t have all the symbols that I wanted. So I made and downloaded a printable chart from here, and entered my symbols myself. I’m pretty tired and I figure that there’s no point in starting this so late and doing a bad job, so I’ll get cracking on this tomorrow.

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).