What's this? A fun winter hat for one of Lucky's friends! We have a group of friends that we call the Pals. We started out as a group of 6, but as the years go by we have increased up to 11! One of Lucky's friends (Pals #9 aka Buddy Nueve) is 11 months younger than him and also lives in MA. I didn't want to part with any of Lucky's hats from last winter because we want to keep them in reasonable shape for Baby Boogaloo (Pals #10).
I know that Buddy Nueve has a large head for a 1 year old, so I had his mom take some measurements for me. In October, Buddy Nueve's head (13 months old) was 18-3/4" around and about 12" eartip to eartip. When Lucky was 12 months old, his head measured 18" around and was about 10.5" eartip to eartip. I believe that Buddy Nueve's head has been in the 90th percentile whereas Lucky was pretty consistently in the 50th.
I would have started knitting right away, but Lucky was at school today so I couldn't even try on his hat from last year to see how it compares. I want to make sure that this hat will fit Baby Nueve for a while! That is the whole point of having an extra large folded brim, the hat can "grow" to accommodate a growing toddler. At 2 years old, Lucky still fits into his What's this? hat! the brim is getting a little short in the back but the hat is still a functional garment for keeping my toddler warm. Perfect! Lucky's head currently measures 19" around and 12" from eartip to eartip, meaning that the what's this? hat as written should have no problem fitting Buddy Nueve.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to make this design using some commercial yarns, since the original What's This? Toddler Skullcap knitting pattern used my handspun worsted weight yarn. I had Berroco Peruvia worsted weight wool in 7104 Oat (20 g, 34 yards), 7153 Purple (36 g, 63 yards), 7145 Blue (16 g, 27 yards) and Brown (10 g, 17 yards - color # unknown) in my stash. I'll use size 5 (3.75 mm) double pointed needles.
I started with over 110 g of these remnant colors. With 174 yards/100 g, this is going to be more than enough yarn for me to create Buddy Nueve's hat. I wanted to have some fun with the striping, and to sort of change it up as I go along.
Striping pattern:
- Cast on and then knit 5 rounds of ribbing in purple
- 1 tan ribbing round
- 3 brown ribbing rounds
- 3 purple ribbing rounds
- 5 blue ribbing rounds
- 2 tan ribbing rounds
- 1 blue ribbing rounds
- 2 brown ribbing rounds - At this point the ribbing portion measures 3.25" from the cast on edge.
- 4 purple rounds (all stockinette from here on out)
- 2 blue rounds
- 2 purple rounds
- 5 tan rounds
- 1 purple round
- 3 tan rounds
- 1 brown round
- 2 blue rounds
- 5 purple rounds
- 1 tan - Here the piece measures just shy of 9.5" from the cast on edge even though only 26 stockinette rounds were knit.
- 1 blue round - The first decrease round. Follow decreases in pattern as written.
- 4 tan rounds
- 2 purple rounds
- 2 brown rounds
- 4 blue rounds - 20 sts remain
- 4 tan rounds - then pull in loose stitches and weave in loose ends.
The hat alone weighs 69.5 g. A total of 122 yards of yarn needed to create the hat.
I was bad and didn't check my gauge, but since this is made with a really wide brim the hat can be too long and that's perfectly okay.
Lucky's hat is a bit stretched out by this point, but the hats are basically the same size. This should last Buddy Nueve for this winter and through next, if it doesn't get lost!
Lucky was happy to model his buddy's new hat. I'm so glad to see that a toddler size hat can last multiple years!
