One Baby, One Morning, One hat

A friend was having a baby but opted to not find out the gender ahead of time – always a bother for us knitters. I had a blue hat and booties ready to go, but something held me back from giving it to her at the shower. Sure enough, the baby arrived yesterday – a girl. A sweet baby girl named Lira. Not that there's anything wrong with blue for a girl, but I'm personally partial to pink for them. I knew it was possible in theory to make a hat in the few short hours before our visit to the hospital – but could I do it? I decided to cast on and find out… there were a few false starts as I tried to get it small enough (I have a tendency to make big hats). I found a mock cable pattern that is just darling and loads of fun to knit. I worked through Project Runway (on Tivo), Sesame Street and a PBS kids show featuring an actor in a giant sloth suit. I finished off the ends mid-way through WordWorld.

The hat is a little big, but I know babies heads grow really, really fast and it will be too small in no time at all.

This oddessey of mine is an argument in favor of an extensive stash. You just never know when you're going to need to whip something up in a hurry. I used Bernat Cotton Tots because it's what I had on hand. After having worked with it, I have to say there are other yarns I like much better for projects like this.

I’m also happy to say that the half mitts for my friend who took us skiing are done – just in time

for a warming trend, but she may still get some use out of them on some chilly mornings. It’s the Morning Mitts from the Knitter’s Book of Yarn – a fabulous book. It’s bound to be a classic. The pattern has a wonderfully done thumb that involves decreases just after the thumb.

P.S. The delightful trip to the grocery store was more or less a fluke and I’m still not a fan of grocery shopping.