Part 3 – Let the knitting commence! January 16, 2012

Newborn size Snowflake DK Bonnet in Natural/Damson

Having solved some of my technical issues (at least on paper), the actual knitting could begin. After loading up the wood stove, I settled in comfortably with needles and my box of sample balls of Cat’s Pajamas, the obvious candidate for this project. (I have a system for storing open balls of yarn so that when the urge to knit a sample strikes me or when Diane is test knitting, we don’t just grab a new skein from stock, or I’d end up with an awful lot of unsaleable yarn).

Owing to the spidery (thin line) nature of the snowflake motifs on the hat, our eight shades of hand-paint wouldn’t be suitable here. Hand-paint generally looks best when the motifs are more solid – they would look fine in the Mysterious Disappearing Dots Scarf, for example. It would have to be the mottled solids, then. Since we have about fifteen mottled solid colours of Cat’s Pajamas, the choice was not easy!

Which ones would suit a baby? Just to make the decision easier, I chose two ‘sex-linked’ colours: warm turquoise and hot pink. Since the hat is fully reversible, it can be worn either ‘boy-side’ out or ‘girl-side’ out. For those not in thrall to gender-appropriate colours for baby hats, there are many other wonderful combinations possible.

Doing the actual knitting is always the best part of a new design. I loved knitting this hat. In fact, I can’t knit just one! Here I rationalize: I really ought to try other colours and sizes, just to make sure it all works!

It is a superb non-boring project: it has easy repetitive bits (such as the I-cords and the ribbing) that can be knit under the influence of Christmas pudding, a glass of wine or other distractions, and an entertaining bit of double-knitting for brain-candy and full engagement, and gets finished in a reasonable amount of time. The trickiest bit, I found, was remembering to knit the cord at the edge twice before each row. (I’ve included this in my notes, but you’re bound to forget to knit twice at least once!)

Snowflake Bonnet - reverse side Damson/Natural Cat's Pajama's