Noggin

I always swore I’d never get into the aww-dorableness of baby clothes. Unfortunately, I forgot to have all my friends swear never to have children, so I’ve now found myself a little stuck. I’ve managed to salvage my dignity by refusing to make anything in pink or blue, so here’s an adjustable-size baby hat in gold and tan. I decided to use just an i-cord tassel to avoid having a possibly detachable pompom (which might be a choking hazard).

Baby hat with i-cord tassel.

Needles: Size 5, both 16″ circ and DPN

Gauge: 10.5 stitches & 14 rows = 2″ in stockinette stitch

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn’s Jeannee, 51% cotton 49% acrylic, worsted weight, or any other machine washable yarn. Colors shown are 0031 tan and…um, sorry, lost the label on the lighter color.

The hat shown weighs 38 grams and the skein of yarn weighs 50 for 110 yards, so that’s about 90 yards for the size shown total yardage.

Size: The size shown is a 14″ hat and it’s shown on a 15″ butter tub, since I couldn’t find any babies around the house.

Sizing for your baby (or butter tub): It’s recommended to make a hat approximately 1 1/2″ smaller than what it’s intended to fit.  However, a neat feature of babies is that they continue to grow, so if the hat is too big, it will fit a little later on. I strongly suggest not going any smaller than 13″ for the hat (to fit 14.5″ head) because babies do not shrink, even in hot water.  This is especially important if baby’s parents have big heads.

Anyways, to begin.

Cast on in the tan color:

# of stitches	Finished size	To fit up to head size	Age
66	12 7/8″	14 3/8″	small newborn
72	14″	15 1/2″	large newborn
78	15 1/8″	16 7/8″	newborn-3 mo
84	16 1/4″	17 3/4″	3-6 mo
90	17 3/8″	18 7/8″	6-12 mo

Cast on, join in the round, and then work 6 rows of K3 P3 ribbing.

Work one round knit.

Switch to main (lighter) color. If you want the optional stripe, don’t cut the darker yarn. Work 2 rounds knit.

Optional stripe: Work 2 rounds knit in darker color. Switch back to lighter yarn. (YOu can cut the end of the darker color now to weave in.)

Continue in stockinette stitch until hat measures (3.5″, 4″, 4.5″, 5″, 5.5″). Include the ribbing in this measurement.

Decreases:

Place 6 markers evenly spaced. (This will be every 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 stitches.)

Round 1: After each marker, K2tog. Knit rest of stitches.

Round 2 & 3: Knit every stitch.

Repeat rounds 1-3 until 6 stitches remain. Work i-cord for 3″ and bind off. Weave in ends. Tie i-cord in knot.

Hat, laid flat.

Hat front (brim turned up)