The Black Leeow Hat

So my kid has a thing for black kitties:

Taking her Main Kitty for a twirl around the dance floor

So when she outgrew her Unfinished Hat (I never did block it) I knew I wanted to make her one of these:

Kitty Hat.  Here on Ravelry.

I had big plans of getting it done for Christmas but of course that didn't happen.  Instead she took it out for it's inaugural run during the crazy warm weather we had in early January:



We're at Rocky River Park in these pictures... one of my fav's in Cleveland.  It's right on the lake which is as always awesome:



And the equipment is all accessible by stairs - great for a mom who is watching a little one and doesn't want to have to keep lifting a toddler up to the slides.

Although if daddy is there he is happy to help her learn to climb.

So the specifics on the hat...  It's the Official Kittyville Hat pattern out of the Stitch 'n Bitch books.  It's available free through Ravelry here.  I ended up changing a bunch of things, though (of course I did):


I knit it from the top down following the directions for Thorpe (also a free pattern) because I didn't like the seam between the hat and the earflaps with the pattern as written.  It's all about the details (see also: I need to get my OCD on somewhere).  That way I could just knit the earflap stitches straight down from the body of the hat w/o any seam.

I also knit it over 82 stitches instead of the pattern's 84.  I wanted it to be a bit smaller than the pattern but not so small that she'd grow out of it any time soon.  The earflaps and Kitty Ears are the same as called for in the pattern, though.

I added a double crochet edge around the whole thing like the Thorpe pattern.  And I did the ears in two colors.  The pink is in stockinette instead of seed stitch b/c to me the insides of kitty ears are smooth not bumpy.

The yarn is Patons Classic Merino.  And because my kid likes all things sparkley I added in some Patons Brilliance, too.  I held the two yarns together but only knit with the brillance on every other row.  So the sparkle is subtle but noticeable.

x

She LOVES this hat.  And while it's a bit big on her still:


I know that just means she'll get more than one season's use out of it.  Yay for handknits!

And how about some bonus pictures of Lake Erie from Rocky River Park.  Love me some Lake Erie.