4/29/09 - Frogged! This hat was really cute, but it wasn’t what I wanted…and it ended up seeing no use because Lexie was sick when we visited my parents up north over Christmas. So I’ve found a new pattern and will be knitting Lexie a new hat--with this yarn, because I adore it!

12/12 - How incredibly frustrating to not be able to get gauge! I was able to get gauge when knitting single stranded with my substitute yarn, but not double stranded. The pattern calls for 8 sts in 4” using US11 needles; the best I could manage was 10 sts in 4” using US15 needles. That, combined with the fact that pattern wasn’t written for a large enough size, meant a lot of variations. I started with this colorway, intending to knit Lexie’s hat first…only I ended up with a hat big enough to fit Jeffrey! I considered swapping hats…but I really wanted his hat knit in Rowling to match his gloves, with only the earflaps in the Tolkein colorway.

It took some finagling, but while the hat will be a bit loose on her, it will work. It’ll be more of a roll brim hat, but it’s a cute look. The only problem would be keeping it on her head, since it so loose…but that would be a problem even with a tighter hat. I’ll still be adding the ear flaps and ties, which will keep the hat secure on her head…and I discovered that if she has mittens on, she doesn’t have the dexterity to remove even a loose hat! The plus for her hat is that it’ll fit for at least one more year, probably two (since it fits her 3-year-old brother).