Sunday Craft Update - February 22

I've been knitting like crazy, to keep up with my yarn purchases. Elann is still having incredible sell-offs of discontinued Needful Yarns stock. In a moment of madness, I bought three bags of Santa Ana, in the colours shown above. When I made my Siesta Blanket, Kate loved the Santa Ana so much that she begged for an afghan of her own using this yarn. So I am working on one now, using the purple and blue Santa Ana along with a bagful of Takhi Durango (also purchased from an Elann close-out sale) and some Elann Peruvian Highland Bulky wool.

One of my co-workers took 3 skeins of each colour off my hands, but that still leaves an awful lot of Santa Ana .... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but at 12 USD for a bag of 10 skeins, it was impossible to resist. I'm itching to buy more too, as there are still bags in many colours available at Elann. This yarn is a mixture of nylon and real wool, not the plasticky "fun fur" stuff that's usually available. I'm thinking this would be great for making soft stuffed animals. I'd like to make a wrap or cardigan out of this too, but the trick is, as one Raveler put it, "to find a pattern that doesn't make you look like a Muppet when you wear the finished garment."

Alysha's Flower Hat Pattern

I made this hat for a four-year-old girl named Alysha, who is the neighbour of one of my close friends. Alysha was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2008 and needs a bone marrow transplant to be cured. Her situation has inspired Operation Alysha, which encourages people to donate blood products and to join the the Canadian Blood Services' national bone-marrow registry, One Match. Alysha is undergoing chemotherapy right now, and I thought she could use a new hat to keep her head warm until all her hair grows back.

I used an easy-to-wash acrylic yarn, Bernat Satin Solids, to make this hat, but any worsted-weight yarn would work. I hope you enjoy using this pattern. Comments are always welcome.

Materials

Bernat Satin Solids, 1 100 g (3.5 oz) skein each of Maitai 04732 (MC), Sunset 04605 (A) and Sapphire 04141 (B).
Note: a full skein is needed only for main colour (MC); small amounts of any worsted-weight yarn may be substituted for colours A and B. Approximately 110-140 m (120-150 yds) are needed in all.

4.0 mm crochet hook
3.75 mm and 4.5 mm double-pointed or circular knitting needles
Note: If using circular needles, you can use either a 40 cm (16 in) needle for the body of the hat or two circular needles simultaneously. For shaping the crown, you will need double-pointed needles or two circular needles.

Measurements

Final measurements of hat are 42, 45 and 48 cm (17, 18 and 19 in) around. Stretches to fit head sizes 48, 51 and 54 cm (19, 20 and 21 in). Corresponds roughly to Child's Small (2-4 years), Medium (5-7 years) and Large (8-10 years).

Gauge
For hat: 20 stitches and 26 rows over 10 cm (4 in) square in stockinette stitch, using 4.5 mm needles.
For crochet flower: width of completed flower is approximately 9 cm (3.5 in).

Abbreviations
K - knit
P - purl
K2tog - knit 2 together
M1 - make an additional stitch by working into the previous row
ch - chain
sl st - slip stitch
st(s) - stitch(es)
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet
tr - treble crochet

Instructions for Hat

With MC and 3.75mm needles, cast on 76 [80, 84] sts and join in a round.
Next round: *K2, P2*. Repeat from * to * until end of round.
Repeat the last round until there are 8 [9, 10] rows or 3-3.5 cm (1.25-1.5 in) of ribbing.

Change to 4.5mm needles and start working in stockinette stitch.
Next round: *M1, K 9 [8, 7]*. Repeat from * to * 7 [9, 11] more times. K 4 [0, 0]. (84 [90, 96] sts)
Continuing in stockinette stitch, work 2 [3, 3] more rows in MC and then work stripe pattern as follows:
- 2 rows A
- 1 row MC
- 3 rows A
- 1 row MC
- 2 rows A
Change to MC and continue in stockinette stitch until piece measures 14 [15, 16] cm (5.5 [6, 6.5] in) from beginning.

Shape crown as follows:
Largest size only: *K2tog, K9, K2tog, K19*. Repeat from * to * 2 more times. (90 sts).
All sizes: *K2tog, K26 [8, 8]*. Repeat from * to * 2 [8, 8] more times. (81 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K7*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (72 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K6*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (63 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K5*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (54 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K4*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (45 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K3*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (36 sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K2*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (27sts)
Next round: *K2tog, K1*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (18 sts)
Next round: *K2tog*. Repeat from * to * 8 more times. (9 sts)
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Weave tail through remaining stitches. Pull tight and secure, weaving in tail on wrong side of the hat.

Follow the instructions below for the crochet flower and sew onto hat.

Instructions for Crochet Flower

Work in rounds, starting with colour B.
Round 1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook. (6 sts)
Round 2: 2 sc in each sc. (12 sts)
Round 3: *2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in next sc.* Repeat from * to * 5 more times. (18 sts).
Sl st in first sc of round and fasten off.

With colour A, make slip knot on hook.
Next round: Starting with the first sc from previous round, 2 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc. *2 sc in next sc. 1 sc in each of next 2 sc.* Repeat from * to * 4 more times. Sl st in first sc of round. (25 sts)
Next round: *Sl st in next sc. Skip next sc. 2 dc and 1 tr in next sc. 1 tr and 2 dc in next sc. Skip next sc. * Repeat from * to * 4 more times. (35 sts)
Sl st in first sl st of round and fasten off.

With colour MC, make slip knot on hook.
Next round: Starting with first dc of previous round, *sc in each of the 2 dc, 2 sc in each of the 2 tr, sc in each of the 2 dc, sl st in the sl st.* Repeat from * to * 4 more times. (45 sts).

With colour B, make slip knot on hook.
Next round: Starting with first sc of previous round, *sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in each of the next 2 sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc, skip next sl st.* Repeat from * to * 4 more times. (60 sts)
Sl st in first sc of round and fasten off.

Weave in yarn ends on back of flower.