April 2015 #4 & #5 Mellow Yellow and Summer Slouch

Would you believe, after making five hats and finishing my final one literally within hours of the end of the month, my challenge with Darleen Hopkins ended in a tie? Good thing I actually expected to loose from the beginning and simply wanted to push myself to make more hats. Which we both did, ending up with five each.  I call this a win for Halos of Hope. (since they're receiving all the hats).

Hat #4 is the Chevrons & Cables Hat and available for free. It is knit with Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton in Buttercup on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Stitches used were knit, purl, yarn over, k2tog, ssk, kbl, and the cable stitch. The decreases are very clever and create a very pretty finished crown. The pattern did call for two different needle sizes, one for the ribbing and another for the main hat. For whatever reason I don't think I did that. Although I'm not certain why I choose not to. In hindsight, the brim would probably have finished nicer in the smaller needle size. Note to self - use smaller needle when making it next time. LOL.

Hat #5 is my original pattern Slouch This! and is available as a free Ravelry download. I used Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton in Amethyst, White, Turquoise, and Buttercup along with Lily Sugar n'cream in Hot Pink on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Stitches used are knit and k2tog. Instead of the provisional cast on (because I was just being lazy), I used my go-to Old Norwegian cast-on and knit for 1.5" before continuing with the pattern as written. I like the way this color combination in the cotton makes this hat a good summer option.