Pink Braided Sweetness

Isn't this hat sweet? It's for my 2 and a half year old niece. My sister-in-law asked me to make her a hat as she's had trouble finding one that would fit. We went Monday to look for yarn and my SIL picked out a bright pink Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby D.K., a very soft yarn that just about matched her jacket.

I used this Braided Hat Pattern to make it, which is, by the way, a great pattern.

I know what you're all thinking.. why does it look kind of ... odd just above the ribbing? That's because the ribbing was added on after I had thought I was finished with the hat. The pattern starts at the ribbing and goes up from there. I thought I'd done enough pattern repeats before I started decreasing for the crown, but when I finished off and tried it on my younger son (whose head is about the same size as my niece's) it didn't cover his ears. Panic!

But then I thought, why can't I just pick up stitches at the cast-on at the ribbing and go down from there? Which is what I did.













Unfortunately, this left my original rounds of ribbing looking like 5 rounds of mistakes. Poo. Oh well. I think those beautiful braided cables make up for it.

And let's take a look at those!













Aren't they gorgeous? This was my first time really doing cables. I've done a few practice swatches, but nothing serious. But I figured I'd add another notch to my imaginary knitting experience belt with these. I loved doing them! Tedious, yes. Mathematical counting, yes. Ahh.... good times.

SIL brought her two kids over last night to Trick Or Treat with my boys and I showed her the hat then, which was still on the needles with about five rounds of ribbing to go. She said she loved it! I was relieved. When she asked me if I'd make a hat, she didn't tell me what she wanted it to look like, she just said for me to "go with my creative genius", to quote her. I don't know about that, but I sure was nervous about whether she'd like this pattern or not.

When we were looking at yarns, she saw a boucle she liked and said she'd like to have a little texture, but it was far more than she wanted to spend. Since she chose a smooth yarn, I decided to give her that texture with the cables.

And on a funny note... I tried it on my younger son this morning to make sure it would be long enough to cover the ears and it's perfect! Yay!

But then he asked if it was for him. I said, "No, honey. Do you want Momma to make you a hat?" He nodded and said, "Mmmhmmm." I asked him what he wanted it to look like and he replied, "Like [M]'s hat."

When I asked him what color, he said, "Bright! Yellow!"

Oh, good lord.