Free Pattern: Baby Cotton Bonnet

Just finished my spring cleaning! And there were some cute baby stuff I had to say goodbye to. The two bonnets that I designed for my daughter are on top of the list.

I suppose the reason why I like these two so much is the fact that they match so perfectly the idea that was in my head. We didn't want to know if our baby was a boy or a girl until it actually happened, so such a simple, gender neutral design was perfect. I always thought that I would simply add a crocheted flower for a girl or some cute dinosaur button for a boy to the side of the bonnet. In the end, there was no need.

I had to learn a knitting technique that was new to me to get the exactly what I wanted. I made i-cords before, just never applied or attached them to anything. You can find a great tutorial here: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/attached-i-cord-tutorial/

On the same website, I found a baby vest pattern. I used the same yarn as for yellow-grey hat and modified it just a bit. The original pattern doesn't have the i-cord attached all the way around since it's done in a single color. Another difference between the bonnet and the vest is that I used 3.5mm instead of 3mm needles for the vest. In any case, it was a great match :)

 

The yarn that I used was in my stash for quite a long time and it's been discontinued, but any kind of 100% cotton yarn should work. The yellow yarn is Lana Grossa Pico, DK weight, other two are fingering weight. The grey one is Lang Yarns Baby Cotton and the orange is a vintage yarn I already wrote something about, Star Twist by Springer.

One final remark before the pattern. There is only one size, newborn, which should definitely fit until 3 months. My daughter wore the hats until about 4 months, I think. I was considering adding more sizes, the pattern is simple enough, but finally I decided no to. The thing is, as much as I loved the bonnet, I didn't knit it in a larger size for my baby either. In my opinion it is great for a newborn, as soon as they start moving more, not so much, since cotton is not stretchy enough. If someone really needs the pattern in a larger size, I will write it up, of course.

You can find the pdf version of the pattern here, or simply read on.

Yarn: 30-40g 100% cotton yarn in total (DK or fingering), Color A and B (yellow and grey) for a plain hat or Color A and C (yellow and orange) for a stripy hat 

Needles and tools: 3mm straight knitting needles and a set of 3mm DPNs (or a long 3mm circular needle for magic loop), 8 stitch markers, tapestry needle 

Necessary technique: knit, purl, knit 2 together, i-cord, applied i-cord 

Gauge: 26-28 stitches and 40 rows for 10cm in plain stockinette stitch 

Size: Newborn (0-3months) 

To fit: Approx. 35-40cm head circumference 

Finished size: 27cm at cast-on edge, 15cm height 

ABBREVIATIONS

Repeat between * *, st - stitch, RS – right side, WS – wrong side, k - knit, p - purl, DPN - double pointed needle, k2tog – knit 2 stitches together

CAST ON
Start with Color A. With 3mm straight knitting needles or a long circular one, cast on 72st. Work plain stockinette stitch as follows:

Row 1 (RS): Slip 1 st, k until the end
Row 2 (WS): Slip 1 st, p until the end

For a stripy hat, knit 3 rows in stockinette stitch and Color A, switch to Color C for 4 rows and continue switching colors like this until the work measures approx. 9cm from the cast-on edge, but ending with 3 rows in Color A. Switch to Color C before joining to work in the round.

For a plain hat, work with Color A until the work measures 9cm from the cast-on edge.
In both cases, join to work in the round using DPNs or continue with a circular needle, placing a marker at the beginning of the round. Continue with stockinette stitch in the round:

Round 1 – 4 (Plain round): K all st

During the last plain round place the rest of the markers 9 st from the beginning of the round and after every 9 st.

For a plain hat, work the rest of the body of the hat with Color A.
For a stripy hat, continue knitting and decreasing, switching colors in the same manner, after 4 rounds of Color C and 3 rounds of Color A. To maintain nice stripes, after switching colors, knit one round with the new color normally. At the beginning of the next round, pick the first stich of the old color and place it back on your left needle. Knit these two stitches together and continue. This technique will not interfere with the decreases, since they are not made at the beginning of a round until the very end. You may only notice some elongated stitches at the beginning of the round.

DECREASING
Decrease round: *k until 2 st before the marker, k2tog* until the end

Next round (Plain round): K all st

Knit another plain round.

Knit one more decrease round followed by 2 plain rounds and then continue repeating one decrease round, one plain round, until there are 16st left.

Next round: k2tog until the end

FINISHING
Cut yarn leaving a long tail, thread the yarn into a tapestry needle and pass it through the remaining stitches, then secure it firmly.
Make an i-cord, 20cm long, and then continue with applied i-cord on the cast-on edge. Match one row of i-cord to one st of the body of the bonnet. After covering the edge completely, continue with the regular i-cord for another 20cm and bind of all st. Using Color B for a plain hat or Color C for a stripy hat, apply an i-cord of 3st to the side edges of the part that was knitted flat or crochet one row of single crochets. Again, match one row of applied i-cord to one row of the body. Weave in all ends, covering the corners neatly.

And here it is finished, I hope you enjoyed the pattern!

Free pattern: That Special Toddler Hat (Or, Happy Birthday, Philip!)

This winter there was either time to knit or write about it, so clearly I made no new posts! However, I've been rushing this week to finish a hat for a very special little boy. Only three months after our daughter was born, our dearest friends became parents to Philip, that sweet smiling face. And a bit later we became godparents! The hat that I've just finished and my girl is wearing on the photo should be one of his birthday presents (don't worry, he'll get plenty of fun stuff, too). And I had to share this pattern since I know there are many wonderful smiling faces out there and some of them might need a hat just like this.

Here's the Ravelry link to the PDF version of the pattern, but I would like to add some details.

The DK yarn I used has 3,5 - 4 mm recommended needle size, but it is quite common with brioche patterns to use slightly smaller needles and here I used 3 mm double pointed ones. The gauge is 18 stitches to 10 cm when the work is just a bit stretched.
Light yarn is 50% wool, 50% acrylic, while darker one is 50% wool, 50% cotton blend, so the hat should be warm, but not too warm. To add some warmth to the ears, I made the bottom part longer in order to fold it. If you don't want this, simply start decreasing after 10cm from cast-on edge.

Since the hat is quite stretchy and the brim is adjustable, I hope this also means it can be worn longer. It should certainly allow for some growth. It's difficult to be very precise about the size, but the idea here is to have a hat that would definitely fit around 12 - 18 months (45-48 cm head circumference) and how much earlier or later it could be worn depends a lot on the child. My daughter is 15 months old and the hat fits perfectly, with plenty of room left.

The beginning is a bit messy, but after 5 or 6 rounds it becomes quite relaxing. Even if you're new to brioche knitting, it's not very difficult to work in two colors, you only use one at the time. I just wouldn't say that this is really a quick knit.

ABBREVIATIONS

St - stitch, k - knit, p - purl, yo - yarn over, DPN - double pointed needle
Slstwyb - slip the following stitch with the yarn in the back
Slstwyf - slip the following stitch with the yarn in the front
Slstyo - slip stitch yarn over - move the yarn to the front of the work, slip the following stitch, yarn over
Brk - brioche knit - knit the stitch together with its yarn over
Brp - brioche purl - purl the stitch together with its yarn over
RSBD - right slanted brioche decrease - slip the stitch with its yarn over as if to knit, knit the following stitch, pass the slipped stitches over, move back to left needle, pass the following stitch with its yarn over over, move the stitch to the right needle (two stitches decreased)
LSBD - left slanted brioche decrease - slip the stitch with its yarn over as if to knit it, knit the following two stitches (one of them has a yarn over) together, pass the slipped stitches over (two stitches decreased)

The number of stitches indicated doesn't include the yarn overs, stitch with a yarn over counts as one stitch.

CAST ON

To cast on, you need a piece of scrap yarn. Using this yarn and a DPN, cast on loosely 35 stitches. Take two ends of your working yarn, light and dark colored ones, and tie them together. First row is worked in the right side color (in my case, light brown yarn). At the end of each row or round you switch. During the first row you should probably distribute the stitches to 3 or 4 DPNs to make it more comfortable.

Row 1 (Light color): *k1, yo* until the end (70 stitches), don't turn
Row 2 (Dark color): *slstwyb, p1* until the end

You now join to work in the round with the following rule: once you are finished with one color, take this yarn to the front and let it hang there before picking up the other color. This should keep the yarn from crossing.

Round 1 (Light color): *k1, slstwyf* until the end
Round 2 (Dark color): *slstwyb, p1* until the end
Round 3 (Light color): *k1, slstyo* until the end
Round 4 (Dark color): *slstyo, brp* until the end
Round 5 (Light color): *brk, slstyo* until the end

After Round 2 you can unravel the piece of yarn used to cast on and admire how nice and reversible it is.

Distribution of stitches when starting a light color round

Position of the yarn when starting a light color round

Distribution of stitches when starting a dark color round

Position of the yarn when starting a dark color round

Repeat rounds 4 and 5, ending with round 4 until the work measures 11 cm for a hat without brim or additional 5-10 cm for a hat with a brim.

DECREASING

1st Decrease Round (Light color): * **brk, slstyo** 2 times, RSBD, slstyo, LSBD, slstyo, brk, slstyo* 5 times (50st)

Continue with Rounds 4 and 5 for another 3cm, ending with Round 4.

2nd Decrease Round (Light color): *brk, slstyo, RSBD, slstyo, LSBD, slstyo* 5 times
Continue with Rounds 4 and 5 for the same number of rounds as between 1st and 2nd Decrease Round.

Next round (Light color): *brk, k2tog, slstyo, ssk* until the end (20st)
Next round (Dark color): *sl 2st, brp, sl1* until the end (yarn should be very tight in this round since the slipped stitches will be decreased in the next)
Next round (Light color): Bring the last light colored st from the previous round to the left needle, you should now have 3 light colored st on the left needle to be worked out next, *sl 2st together as if to knit, knit the following stitch, pass the slipped stitches over for a double decrease, slstwyf* until the end (10st)
Next round (Dark color): *slstwyb, p1* until the end
Next round (Light color): *k1, slstwyf* until the end
Next round (Dark color): *slstwyb,p1* until the end

FINISHING

Cut both yarns leaving long tails, thread the light colored yarn into a needle and pass it through the remaining stitches, then tie a firm knot with dark colored one. Weave in ends neatly to get a reversible hat. As a final touch, I also added a small label to mark the back side.
And the hat is finished!