Sheep Baby Hat
This adorable baby sheep hat - or toque if you are Canadian like my husband - was one of my most favorite baby gifts that I have ever made. Actually, I've knit several of them with different color brims: purple for a girl, blue for a boy and green when they did not know the gender. There are a lot of great color options if you use the recommended Cascade Superwash 220 and you need so little of the color for the bottom that it is a good use of leftover Cascade scrap yarn!
The hardest part about this hat is learning trinity stitch, which isn't really that hard. Here's a brief tutorial that may help you out (keep in mind that I knit Continental so if it looks funny, that's why):
FIRST ROW: Purl the first row if you are knitting in the round. Knit the first row if you are knitting flat.
SECOND ROW: Now the complicated part! In the first stitch you knit, then purl in the SAME STITCH, and knit again in the SAME STITCH. Here's what it looks like:
1) Knit one stitch as you normally would, but do not pull the stitch off the needle at the end; 2) Move the yarn to the front and purl in the same stitch that you just knit into; 3) Move the yarn to the back and knit again in the same stitch that you just knit and purled into; 4) Carefully slide the stitch off the needle. There should now be three stitches on your right needle and only one removed from your left needle. 5) For the next stitch, knit 3 stitches together.
Repeat for the rest of the row. Now you can start to see the pattern emerging. Look at the group of three, then one, then three, then one alternating through the row.
THIRD ROW: Purl if you are knitting in the round. Knit if you are knitting flat.
FOURTH ROW: Knit the first three stitches together. Then knit, purl, knit into the next stitch. Continue that way to the end of the row. Note that this row has the same stitches as the second row, but in the opposite order. Repeat these four rows for the trinity stitch pattern.
Double pointed needles are your friend when it comes to knitting baby hats, but you could probably use a short circular needle (I have not tried it, but imagine it would be difficult when you get to the small number of stitches to decrease the top). Don't be afraid to try double pointed needles. I used size 6 double pointed needles for the sheep baby hat.
The pattern comes from the book 60 Quick Baby Knits and is totally worth paying for the whole book if you knit a lot of baby items. I have knit several other items out of this book. All are fairly easy and pretty quick to knit depending on your skill level. The first baby sweater I made was from the book, it took a couple weeks, but it was so cute and I made it in a larger size for a first birthday, too.
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