Hugs and Kisses Hats

Recently I've taken to knitting on coffee breaks and lunch hours again. For short spans of knitting such as these, I like to make little projects -- it makes me feel like I'm getting something accomplished. These hats have gotten a lot of attention around the lunch table. The pattern is one I obtained from the Warm Hands Network's site.

The first hat I knitted (left) I forgot to switch to p1 k1 on the second row, so I carried on, and made the brim in moss stitch, instead of the called-for seed stitch. Because the moss stitch worked up longer than expected, I left out the 'checkerboard' that should have been below the bottom stripe. The top of the hat has a flat shaping, or so I assume, but the way the pattern is written, it pulled into gathers. For the second hat (right) I started the shaping with k5, k2tog around. This gave a little better effect, but it still puckered some. Worked in worsted weight on 4.5mm needles, these hats fit a 2 1/2 year old very well.

Next, I made an adult version out of Shetland Style Chunky. This hat has a 1 1/4 inch 1 x 1 ribbed band, but it made it so tall, the laughter over the resulting stovepipe caused me to turn it to the inside and hem it down. Bonus: it made a super warm hat!

For the top of this one, I put two rounds of plain knitting between the decrease rounds for the first 4 decreases. It made a near-perfectly flat top.

The next 'at work' project will be some yarn swatches for the next issue of Knit Together. I love my part-time job!