Three Hat Crisis

Pattern:  see notes below*

Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Slate & Baby Blue

Needles:  sizes 5 & 6, 16-inch circular

When I left yesterday to head home, Mommy said, "It was a three-hat crisis, wasn't it? Glad it wasn't a blanket crisis or a sweater crisis!" In my world, we sometimes measure life by how much knitting I get done. This stay at Mommy's indeed was a "three hat crisis."

Crisis knitting must be simple—something to keep the hands busy, but not requiring so much mental focus. It would have been hard to keep up with a complicated lace pattern during the past two weeks. But I've made so many of these little baby hats that I can do them without pulling out the pattern. Just what I needed while I was helping out while Baby Girl was sick. This kind of knitting takes the edge off the worry. The striped hat was made with the leftovers from the other two hats. Changing yarn every two rounds was just enough to keep that third hat from being boring after knitting the same pattern the third time in a row.

Baby Girl was really sick for a while, but thankfully, she seems to have recovered. Here she is after a few days at home. Walking. Smiling. Just like we wanted to see her.

Baby Girl is wearing a hand knit sweater that was made for her mommy over 30 years ago. I wonder when my Aunt Sis made this, if she was knitting for her pleasure or if maybe she needed to keep her hands busy during some hard time. I love that we are still connected to her, even though these little girls will only know her through this sweater. (Little Sister also wore it a couple of winters ago.)

The following quote specifically mentions a shawl, but the sentiment applies to all of our knitted gifts. Seems appropriate to share it here.

“Given good yarn, good workmanship, and good care, a knitted shawl can outlive its knitter, providing warmth and pleasure to several generations of family and friends.”
― Martha Waterman 

The little hats I knitted are for babies due this winter. Maybe 25-30 years from now, someone will pull them out for another round of wear for another round of new babies. Makes me smile to think about it.

These beautiful colors greeted me as I turned in our driveway yesterday. Fall colors mean cooler weather and a chance to actually use the things I knit all year!

For the knitters among you:  I made all of these little hats from the same yarn. I used a size 5 on the slate color and a size 6 for the blue and the striped ones. The hat knitted on the size 5 needle measured roughly 11 inches inside the rolled brim. The hats knitted on the size 6 needles measured about 12 inches.  I have always wanted to compare the difference when using the different needles sizes. Knitting three hats this quickly let me finally do that. I have made them both ways for newborns.

*Cast on 72 stitches. Join. Knit for 5 inches in the round, and start the decreases. k2tog, k6; k2tog, k5; k2tog, k4; etc. Continue in this manner until there are 5 stitches left. (Switch to DPNs when necessary.) Knit about 4 rows of i-cord and finish.