Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed (you won’t need very much so it’s great for using up odd bits of stash)

Needle: 3.75mm or whatever you need to get gauge

Gauge: 22st per 4″ x 32 rows per 4″ (though row gauge is less important to be honest)

Size: Newborn to 5 months? (I’ll know better in a few months time when no2 arrives. :)

Important Measurements (useful for if you’re planning to knit it in a different weight, or if you can’t get gauge):

Cast on length = 13 1/2″

Height of main body of the bonnet = 5″

Length of each section when you start the back of the bonnet (and start gobbling up the side stitches) = Slightly more than 1/3, slightly less than 1/3, slightly more than a 1/3 (same number as the first section.)

Length of the middle back at the bottom (after your decreases along the length of the bottom): 3″

(I hope that all makes sense.)

(Tiny hat on a big noggin. :)

Pattern:

Cast on 74st and knit in garter stitch until you have 3 bump rows.

Continue in st st until the piece measures 5″ in length from cast on. (Obviously you can add any pattern embelishments that you like in this section. You could even add a steek and do some colour work – you would cut the steek at the end and then add the lower garter band on – I will hopefully try this very soon.)

End the main section at the end of a purl row.

K 27st then place marker. K 20 then place another marker. SSK then turn work and slip the stitch you just knit. Continue purling back along the row till you get to the stitch after the marker. P2tog then turn work again, and slip the stitch you just purled together. This has completed one pair of rows.

Repeat back and forth, SSK or P2tog the stitches after each marker. You are gobbling up a stitch either side of the middle section every two rows, creating a neat 90 degree turn that will be the back of the bonnet.

On the 8th, 16th and 24th pair of rows decrease two stitches from the middle section. (You can count the larger stitches where the side stitches meet the back section to keep track of how many pairs of rows you have done – since there is one larger stitch at either side for each pair of rows.)

(I decreased a stitch just before the side stitch at either side, by k2tog on the right side, and PSSK on the wrong side, but whatever works for you.)

Carry on till all the side stitches are gobbled up. Break yarn but keep the live stitches on the needle.

With the right side facing you, pick up and knit stitches along the bottom of the hat. You will knit the live stitches as you come to them. K 1 stitch per garter stitch bump, then 1 stitch every 2 st st rows (21 stitches approx. till you get to the live stitches at the middle), K all the live stitches, then carry on with 1 stitch every 2 st st rows, and finally 1 stitch every garter stitch bump at the other end. (60st in total – approx.)

In garter stitch, knit till you have 3 garter stitch bump rows on the wrong side, then cast off. This will make the third garter stitch bump on the right side. Don’t pull the yarn through the final stitch.

Instead pick up and knit two additional stitches above the final stitch and use them as the basis for an I-cord tie. Knit the I-cord to about 6″ in length (or whatever length you prefer.)

Pick up three stitches at the opposite edge of the bonnet and make a second I-cord tie.

Weave in all your ends and block.

Then go for a walk with your newly warm-headed baby. :)

(I was hoping I could post every day this week, since there is alot to write about. But there has been house stuff, and now a water leak, and somehow it’s wednesday and nine days to Christmas…)

However… in the autumn I was busy beavering away on a pattern, and it was released today:

This is Cirrus – for the Winter issue of Petite Purls. It’s knit in Rowan Felted Tweed, which I love.

(Did you know there is Aran and Chunky Felted Tweed now? <3)

Anyway Cirrus is kinda special because the yoke is knit as one piece – even though the sleeves are a different colour from the body. This amuses me a great deal. Also it gives a very neat edge where the colours meet. And because you knit the main part of the sleeves first, that gives you a place to put your yarn when you’re not using it.

This makes me happy.

I don’t think there are enough patterns out there for boys. But the upside of that, is that you get to go out there are make your own, and then share it. I’m hoping to do that again some time. :)

So there you go. And here’s the Ravelry link – since I haven’t put that up yet.

(I feel a bit bashful about this to be honest.)

Long before FB was born, W decided he wanted to get him Froebel’s Gifts.

No wait – that’s not true. He wanted to make him Froebel’s Gifts. But the first gift was made of yarn and so it was mine to make.

To be honest, they were a great ‘I want to knit but I have a small baby and not alot of time’ pattern, so it wasn’t a hardship. They are garter stitch short row balls that take next to no yarn, and the hardest part is the garter stitch grafting, which takes a little thought and care BUT…

You could easily seam them instead. No one would know.

:)

If you’d like to make them the pattern is here: froeballs_pattern_oxfordkitchenyarns.pdf (right click and save), and the ravelry info is here.

I need to get on with the secondary set…

The Framed Blanket baby blanket pattern is now available here (PDF file).

ETA: The pattern is now available for free here!

FO: Framed Blanket by Me
My Ravelry Post: here
Yarn: Sirdar Peru Naturals 5x50g balls, Turquoise-Brown (not that you can tell that from most of the photos. I probably should have opened the red curtains before I took the picture. *facepalm*) But basically any chunky single ply would work really well.
Approximate Cost: Just under £20, not including needle.
Needles: 8mm

Finished Size: Approximately 40″x34″

I really love that the blanket is reversable. Especially when it’s blocked, the ‘wrong side’ takes on a very similar look to the right side. And since the edging is knitting on, all the way around, (and garter stitch), there aren’t any raised seam edges or whatever that give away which is specifically the back and which is the front.

Notes: I have sleeping bags for the bump when it arrives but last week it suddenly occured to me that we would probably still find a blanket useful, for travelling, or napping, or when out and about. And I hadn’t actually bought any waffle blankets (which is kind of ridiculous given that I have full sized version for our bed, and single bed versions for around the house! But anyways…)

Plus I was in the mood to crank out a chunky blanket, and I’d spotted, and been really impressed by, Sirdar Peru, which is both wooly, and squishy.

Conclusion: At some point in the future (and I have added it to my ‘To Do’ list and everything!), I’ll try to sort out a PDF and make the pattern a free download, since it’s a quick-to-knit, useful pattern, and I’m pretty proud of it. :)