Tag Archive | kids hats

Thomas Hats

Aug28

I recently received a request for a hat for an almost-2yo. They wanted a striped beanie with a pompom but said I could do whatever colors I wanted. At first I was at a loss, because I want to make it the way they want it, but then as I pondered, I remembered that the boy is a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and it all fell into place.

My only requirement was that it be soft and washable. For a kid’s hat, that means acrylic, and that meant a trip to my nearest big box craft store for the right blue. Thomas blue is tricky, you know, but I think I found a pretty good one.

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I used Tin Can Knits’ Barley hat for my base pattern and cast on. It grew quickly.

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It wasn’t until I was at the decreases that I realized I’d looked at the wrong number for cast on stitches and had a hat too big for a 2yo. Oops! Rather than frog, though, I decided I would finish it for my Thomas-loving nephew.

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The second, correctly sized hat went even faster. This morning they’re being washed to soften the acrylic a bit more, since to get the right blue I had to use a different brand than I prefer.

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The color is off in that photo, by the way. The first two photos are more true. Anyway, now it’s time to make pompoms. I’m debating between solid gray, solid yellow (which the nephew says would make the hat “more beautifuller”) and a mixture of colors. Personally, I would like to do a solid black to represent the pipe-thingie sticking out of his head (seriously, WHAT is that called?? And why can’t I remember it??) but I’m afraid only die-hard Thomas fans would get that. What would you do?

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Yodas

Mar9

Oh my people, I have been gone for days and I have missed you! I had some crazy busy days that sadly could not involve much knitting, let alone writing about knitting. See, here’s the thing: the girl turned 15 yesterday! Yikes! Big, wonderful day. For her birthday present, she wants to redecorate her room, so last week we did some shopping for bedding. Then of course I had to do some solo shopping because she *had* to have some presents to open on her birthday (EOS lip balms, chocolate, bobby pins, headbands, just little things).

I also took Puppy 1 to the vet to get his nails trimmed, and that was an adventure. He’s not a fan of the nail trimming. The vet tech handed me a muzzle, and I was all offended, because my puppy is not mean. He was just scared. And he didn’t want to wear it. So the guy helper hoisted him onto the table (he’s a big dog, around 70 pounds, I think. Guessing because he was too scared to get on the big scale). Somehow this process ended up expressing some certain glands that other dog owners are probably aware of but I wasn’t, really. I am now though! Anyway, he held puppy down, I talked to puppy, and the nails got trimmed. And he was fine. Didn’t even try to snap at anyone; his tail was wagging the whole time. (I TOLD you my puppy’s not mean.)

So! That’s why the end of last week got lost. And on Saturday, the girl (who is a flutist extraordinaire) had a solo and ensemble contest. IMG_1638She was taking both a solo and a flute quartet, so we spent the day inside a high school filled with musicians. It was actually pretty fun. I really love band/orchestra kids. They’re so interesting, so strange and often so confident in their quirkiness. Maybe lots of teenagers are like that; I know theater kids are too. And the hallways were full of funny flyers, and this one was my fave.IMG_1639Obviously my girl is not evil, just fabulous. I know this because despite all her fretting and worrying, she scored a 1 ranking on her solo (rankings are 1-5, one being the best) which means she gets to move on to the state level. Woohoo! Of course I did knit that day while we waited and waited. I worked on little Yoda hats. I worked on little Yoda hats yesterday too, with the little knitting time I had. Since it was the birthday, we had to do presents, go bowling (I won 2 out of 3 games) and go out to dinner. But with all the little bits of time here and there, I managed to knit three Yoda hats, and this morning I sewed on the ears and they are complete.IMG_4027I only love them a little. Ok. A lot. It’s a happy little baby family of Yoda hats. They’re Ravelled here if you want more details. My only sadness comes because this used the rest of my Yoda green yarn, and that color’s no longer available. I will have a find a new Yoda yarn. These little hats will probably go on my Etsy shop, and if they don’t sell there, they’ll travel to a show I’m doing at the end of April.

So there you go! Now you know why I’ve been MIA for several days. But now you’re stuck with me because I’ve got a new WIP that I’m in love with so I’ll be sharing that in the near future. Until then, happy knitting!