Daily Archives: Wednesday 6th May 2009

FOs: Top Down Bonnet & Sweet Baby Cap

My knitting mojo has returned! :-D

It pretty much coincided with the nausea vanishing and starting to feel less tired (though I can still fall asleep at 9.30pm without any problems!) Progress was slow at first, but when I managed to finish a whole hat over the past couple of days I knew I was feeling more like the knitting fiend I used to be. ;-)

Firstly I have finished a couple of baby hats. I love funny hats. And it’s best to get the funny hat knitting done when the small people are too small to protest or even care what’s on their head. I don’t knit for the bigger small people without having a list of strict demands requests for the design and colour of said knitwear. But babies just want to be warm and actually I think I’ve started off fairly conservatively..!

Top Down Bonnet

Pattern: Top Down Bonnet With Anime Character by Adrian Bizilia
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, ½ x 50g ball in shade: 203
Needles: 3mm 80cm long Prym circs for magic looping (not my favourites, but bearable for a small project)

I loved knitting this hat. It was the first time I’d used the figure of eight cast on since I knitted Mr B’s Having Hope socks and it just goes to show that Learning New Stuff is Useful. The hat is really just a very big toe-up sock toe with a bit of shaping, anyway. It was a straightforward knit and I didn’t change a thing other than the eyes. The pattern suggests crocheting onto the knitting, but I tried this and it looked terrible so I gave up and went with a simpler option. I think my bunny looks sleepy and this will encourage the wearer to behave in a similar fashion (well, I can dream!).

The yarn was squidgy and lovely to knit with. Pleased that I managed to find a use for the odd ball of Baby Cashmerino I’d had floating about for a couple of years in my stash.

I didn’t like the needles, but for a small project, I could bear them rather than resorting to buying more KnitPicks circs for the kink-free tips.

Sweet Baby Cap

Pattern: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap/Djevellue by Gro
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash, about 10g in shade: Vergißmeinnicht
Needles: 2.5mm and 3mm circs, plus 3mm dpns

This hat I actually finished first and I won’t say how long it took me, but it’s quite embarrassing for a tiny baby hat. *blushes* I had a good chunk of Wollmeise left over from the Swallowtail Shawl I knitted for my MIL, but not enough to make anything adult-sized, so this pattern was perfect. This probably makes this a very exclusive baby hat and I’m just asking for trouble with a fussy baby who will want cashmere for their first cardigan, but it’s too nice a yarn not to use!

The pattern was again very simple, which is what I needed to ease me back in to knitting. It’s bigger than the bunny hat, but as I’ve no idea how big the baby will actually be, I figured that knitting hats in various sizes was a good idea. Though obviously I’m hoping that he/she has a small head when it comes to the actual birth. They can grow all they want afterwards! :-D