This hat is such a blast to knit!!! I cannot recommend this enough as a great gift for kids (or the kid at heart) and is a great stash scraps buster. It’s also a great project to experiment with stripes and stranded patterns!

Modifications:

I did pick up the wraps on the short rows because I’m a very persnickety knitter; perfectionism is in my DNA and I’ve learned to accept it.

I didn’t like the way Knitty re-wrote the instructions for the tail and much more preferred the look of the original designer’s hats. The caveat is the instructions she provides on her blog are incorrectly written for the increases. What I would recommend is using Knitty’s instructions for the numbers and increases for the first couple of rows and the author’s blog instructions for the technique of how she worked the tail. This will all make sense when you read them—I promise. I also used a M1 increase as opposed to a Kfb to avoid the little bars from showing on the public side.

Here are the instructions for the eyes:

With white worsted acrylic and G hook:

Eyeball:

• Ch 3 Work 5 sc into 3rd ch from hook 2
• 2 sc into each sc around. (10 sc)
• 2 sc into each sc around. (20 sc) Sl st into beginning sc. Finish off.

With black fingering sock yarn and F hook:

Pupil

• Ch 4 and sl st into first ch to join into a ring
• ch 3 (serves as your first dc)
• dc 13 times into ring
• sl st into 3rd ch of beginning ch 3. Finish off.

Using your tails, stitch the pupil to the eyeball

Take worsted yarn, separate 2 ply and place on a lg embroidery needle

Embroider a french knot onto pupil for the small highlight dot and a crescent with a satin st for the other highlight

Using charcoal or grey heather worsted, use a regular over cast st around the edge of the eye for approximately 1.5”

Again, use the tail ends from the eyeball to tack down the eyes to the hat.

The Photos
I laid the hat on my bed to go and search for my camera in another part of the house. Well, as you can see, when I came back Suki had discovered my newly completed WIP made a perfect nap sack. This is why I love her. The last photo is her reluctantly crawling out so I could sew in my label. I guess I’m going to have to make her one now, but maybe in the shape of a fat cheshire cat!