Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Brother & Baby Hats

When my baby brother was about a year old, my mothers friend & neighbor knit my brother a ribbed knit pea cap that he LOVED. Really, he loved that hat & wore it everywhere, but when he was about 4 years old, the hat came up missing & I believe my brother has been devastated ever since.

I got the brilliant idea one day that I should knit my brother's 9 month old son a hat that looked exactly like my brothers hat that he lost. So ever since the end of August, I've been searching for the perfect yarn. Of course I didn't want it to be 100% acrylic like the original hat, but I did need something completely washable. I was able to find some washable wool, but I could never find it in the exact colors, but still I kept looking. Finally.... on December 9th, I spotted the perfect colors at a LYS & low & behold it was a wool blend that was washable! EUREKA!! I cast on immediately only to find that the hat seemed a bit too big, but I kept going. The entire time I just KNEW the hat was going to be too large but I just kept knitting it (of course). When I finally finished the hat I put it on DH's head and it fit. OOPS! Thank goodness these were large skeins of yarn because I cast on for another hat in a smaller size. When all was said & done, I had two hats -- one for my brother & one for his son.


Pattern: Ribbed Pea Cap (2x2 rib knit)
Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Encore
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 7 US (circular & dpns)
Notes: For my brothers hat I cast on 80 stitches & for my nephews hat I cast on 60 stitches. That kid has a HUGE head. I'll probably be making another one of these for him for next year!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, that's even better - a hat for daddy and son! They're great and what an adorable baby

Anonymous said...

Don't they look adorable in their matching hats!!! :) I love it!

jillian said...

Putting those knitting skills to use in the best possible way!

Anonymous said...

The hats are great and how perfect that they each have one.

Lynda said...

That picture is too cute! I love the look the baby is giving him, like, "Hey - why are you wearing my hat?!"

Brena said...

Awww... that is the best story ever!

Anonymous said...

Father and son in matching hats. Wonderful! And they both look totally happy. :-)

Anonymous said...

How cute is that! Awwwwww... that's just adorable.

I can't wait to have grandbabies around to knit for. Except that it's way too early for my son to be doing that yet and my one and only niece is 9, so it will be awhile for her, too.

I seem to be at that awkward age where all of the kids around me are "too cool" to wear hand-knitted items much and too big for the really cute baby stuff.

Anonymous said...

How cute! What a wonderful gift!

Anonymous said...

GAAAhhHHHHHHHHHhhhhh!!!!! SO CUUUUTE!!!!