December 2012 #3 - Please Don't Squeeze the Grapes

People often ask me where I get my the ideas for my hats, and I always answer, "I get them all over the place". As I mentioned last month, I saw some striping that I like on other hats and did something similar, I see color combinations on clothing or design fabrics that I remember. I also browse through the finished projects pages of the various groups I belong to on Ravelry. There are so many amazingly talented people posting their work that my "favorites" list is far longer than I'll ever be able to accomplish in my lifetime. Several months back, I came across a super cute hat by knitschmidt (her Halloween costumes are even cuter!). From her idea, came this hat.

The pattern, Bubble Hat, is published in 60 More Quick Quick Baby Knits. I used Berroco Comfort in Purple and Marum for the leaves, on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Stitches used are knit, k2tog and a k5b (knit five below). The k5b was a new stitch and I was making a total mess of it until I found this easy tutorial by knit1frog2. The addition of the crochet hook, which would seem like a pain, actual helped speed the process along and the hat came together easily. I switched colors at decrease round 7 and then also moved down to a size 5 needle for the i-cord. For the life of me I can't remember what pattern I used for the leaves, but I did make a note that I used a size 4 needle.