April 2015 #1 and #2 - Icing and Piazza

Challenge accepted! What challenge you ask? On April 2nd Halos of Hope posted to their Facebook the following:

Obviously I was up for the idea but thought why not challenge Darleen Hopkins to a little hat making April event. She quickly accepted the challenge and it is "game on" (according to Darleen). We have simple rules, whomever makes the most hats, receives two skeins of cotton yarn from the other. However, the real winner in our little contest is Halos of Hope since they will be receiving all the hats made between us.

 

So, up first...hat #1, Icing. It is the Icing on the Cupcake Hat and is available as a free Ravelry download. It is knit with Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton in White on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Believe it not, this is the toddler sized hat with a c/o of 84 stitches. Granted, I did not make a swatch, but I knew from the start that a worsted weight yarn with that number of stitches would make the sized hat I wanted (and it wasn't for any toddler I knew). Stitches used were knit, purl, yarn over, k2tog, ssk, kfb, and sk2p. What I originally had pictured for this hat did not include a picot edge, so I eliminated that bit and simply did a stockinette band for one inch before proceeding with the remainder of the pattern as written. I like the simple lace pattern and the fact the hat is slouchy. Although that was not the patterns intent.

Hat #2...Piazza. Knit with Berroco Versa yarn (which I love and hate that it has been discountinued) in Piazza on a size 10.5" circular needle and a set of 10.5 dpns. I used the instructions from my Zephyrus hat of the same yarn (and the more recent Sunrise hat) with a few mods as my pattern. I c/o 72 stitches, knit the 5.5” before starting the decreases. Then to keep the edge from curling I picked-up and added 2 rounds of single crochet. This creates a bit of a slouchy hat depending on low the wearer places it upon their head. I used just a bit more than one skein, which I'm not thrilled about, but I'll use the remainder of the second skein to make a smaller version.

Two hats done. Let's see how many more I can finish before the end of the month. I need more yarn!