The first of my cousins on my mom’s side is expecting a baby and this cousin also happens to be a large UNC fan. I asked if there was anything I could knit for them to welcome their upcoming arrival, and I was sent a picture of a finished hat (which looks very similar to this) and told, “or if you’re looking for a challenge…” CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
So, this particular hat was originally crocheted and sold only as the finished product- I cannot crochet, nor was I going to purchase something I knew I could do on my own. Developing the pattern was actually quite a bit easier than I expected it was going to be. I looked up at least five different hat patterns in baby sizes. I spent a lot of time working on guage (and it is sitll large for a newborn- rather unfortunate as we are expecting this one to be a March baby, and this hat will be a great March Madness accessory).
So, I figured out how big I needed to make the body of the hat, and then knit that up in the round to my desired length. I started my decreased and really honed my knitting in the round on DPNs skills with this one. For the edging, I picked up stitches and knit in blue for two rows. The tassels are simply braided strands of yarn, and I honestly cannot remember how long they were or how many strands are in there. The ears, horns, and nose were knit in pieces and then stitched on. I did both ears and nose by sight, but the horns too a bit more planning. I started with the base and knit in the round on DPNs, decreasing every so often to get the desired shape. Both the nose and the horns are filled with polyfill to maintain their shape.
I really enjoyed slowly watching this hat come together, there was one progress photo that was atrociuosly creepy- so I am glad that went away as well. I am very excited for my cousin to recieve this gift on Christmas!
She’s Got a Whole PhD 