Apparently I have very little self control when it comes to keeping my kids’ (and other people’s kids) heads warm for the fall and winter. Right when I declared this would be a time of knitting for myself, already, the evening and early morning temperatures have dropped to the 40’s and I have begun my 9 month old son’s hat. I decided on a beautiful, almost electric color blue with a heathery grey to stripe his hat. My son Ethan’s buddy Phineas has his first birthday coming up…so it only makes sense to knit Phineas the opposite color variation so the two can match. And yes, this should use up two skeins of yarn perfectly 🤓. 

I decided on a long brim to fold over to keep their ears especially warm. I’ve folded it a few times to make sure I have the right length. I refreshed my memory with how to achieve stripes in the round without jogs and though I tried something new with this approach, I went back to the trusty: knit round with new color and lift the stitch below purlwise, then knit two together on the second round (shown here).

If it looks like I live a life of luxury knitting at Starbucks, you’ve been deceived 😂. I got to a meeting early so I spent it going around and around on Phin’s hat. I should be able to finish it tonight once the kids are in bed. Then make the pom poms, attach in time for the birthday party this Saturday (it’s now Wednesday as I write this so I’m making great time).

I’ve made pom poms with scrap cardboard and they turned out fine. I did want to try this Clover pom pom maker just to compare methods. I have to admit – the Clover method was straightforward, easy and made a big, thick ball. I will be using this for all hats going forward.

Did you happen to get a glimpse of that gorgeous mustardy yellow Malabrigo yarn in my bag? Here’s the thing – I promised myself after knitting these hats for the boys I will knit a hat for MYSELF. I am SO excited about that!!! More to come in another hat post on that project soon.

Here’s a quick pic of the finished product. I’m not nuts about the blue pom pom and I think I have enough yarn to redo it – that one will go to my little guy 😉. Hopefully I’ll add a photo of the two of them wearing them sometime soon!

Project details: basic hat pattern with ten decreases at the crown. I used size 7 needles and Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Superwash in colors 49 blue and 7 light grey, click here for other color ideas. I would definitely use this yarn again. Now time for my hat 😁!!!!