my nephew Noah Booker was born in Salt Lake City, in January, where it is coooold. I wanted to make him some special hand knits so he would stand out from all the other Utah babes. and I had this sock yarn that would make a lovely hat. but would it be warm enough for a little baby's ears? no. I needed something to bulk it up. that's when I found the Manos in my stash and made something really cushy, cabley and a tiny bit impish. while I was knitting the hat, I was going through a cupcake phase (l'm now caught up in honey. shortbread, but that's another story). after considerable taste-testing, I determined the cupcakes at Bakery Bar were the best in the city, and many a day, I could be found knitting and cupcake-ing there.1 took a photo while finishing this hat and it ended up on the cover of my friend Larissa Brown's book, Knitalong. I was thrilled to find my photo on the !cover of a book! but this brought up a small problem: I hadn't written down the pattern I'd improvised, and the hat was several states away on a sweet little boy's head.
so at long last I knit a new hat, photos of my process at hand, and wrote it down. the new hat is for my niece Angelica, who is sweetly cold-eared here in Portland in the middle of a snowstorm while I knit.
yarn: A -- Noro Cash Iroha Color 93 (noah) or Manos del Uruguay #A 'mallard' (angel) B -- Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock worsted #34 'tahoe' (noah) or Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock medium weight 'muddy autumn rainbow' (angel) alternate yarn: A: any worsted-weight, warm yarn in jewel tones; B: any sock yarn, preferably mediumweight or thicker amounts: just a little of A $({1}/{8^{\mathrm{th}}}$ skein or so) and a little more of B ( $\%$ skein or less) needles: size 7 Us, 4.5mm double-pointed needles, set of five (l use only four) dimensions: $5"$ by $50^{\prime\prime}$ blocked gauge: 5 stitches / 6 rows per inch for ribbed border; 5 stitches / 7.5 rows per inch for cabled section sizes: baby (3-12 months); more to come
Directions
: holding A and B together, cast on 64 stitches; join to work in the round : work 10 rows in kl, pl rib; break A and continue in B only : row 1l, set up cables: $*|{\mathsf{k}}4,\,{\mathsf{p}}4^{*}$ , repeat 7 times for a totai of 8 cables : row 12: $*_{C4}$ ， $\mathsf{p}4^{*}$ , repeat 7 times : rows 13, 14, 15, 16, 17: repeat row 11 : repeat rows 12-17 two more times row 29: $*_{C4}$ , pl, p2tog, $\uprho1^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 30: $\ast_{k4}$ ， ${\mathsf{p}}3^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 31: $\ast_{k4}$ , pl, p2tog\*, repeat seven times : row 32: $\ast_{k4}$ ， $\mathsf{p}2^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 33: $\ast_{k4}$ ， $p2\mathtt{t o g}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 34: $*_{C4}$ ， ${\mathsf{p}}{\mathsf{1}}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 35: $\ast_{k4}$ ， $\mathsf{p}\mathsf{1}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 36: $\ast\mathsf{k}3$ ， $\mathsf{K}2\mathsf{t o g}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 37: knit all : row 38: $\ast\mathsf{k}_{2}$ ， $\mathsf{K}2\mathsf{t o g}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 39: c6 four times : row 40: $\ast\mathsf{k}1$ ， $\mathsf{K}2\mathsf{t o g}^{*}$ , repeat seven times : row 41: knit all : row 42: k2tog eight times : row 43-44: knit all : row 45: c4 two times : row 46: knit all : 8 stitches remain on your needle; pull yarn through and weave in ends alternate ending (don't you always wish for one?) that's a little less impish \*: row 42: k2tog eight times : 8 stitches remain on your needle; pull yarn through and weave in ends
Abbreviations
c4: cable four; pass your four stitches-to-be-cabled onto your right needle; bring your left needle to the front, and tuck it under the rightmost two stitches; pull the right needle out of all four stitches; and then pick up those two stitches now hanging behind the others with the left needle. knit all stitches off your ieft needle, as usual. if you prefer to use a cable needle, hold your two stitches to the front before passing them back to the left needle. c6: cable six; same as cable four but with six stitches total k2tog:knit twotogetherby tucking your right needle into theloops of two stitches on theleft needle at once and knitting as usual p2tog: purl two together, as with knit two together
