I got the urge to try out a little baby hat with some color work animals around the brim. Also, I’ve been researching to find the best washable baby yarn for softness and ease of care.

First, About the Yarn

This was a quick little knit and I used a short, circular 9 inch needle length in size 6. I really needed to use smaller size needles, but I wanted to try the 9 inch length and size 6 was what I have. I cast on 64 and figured out the pattern stitches so they would fit evenly around. It was easy to knit the hat without using DPN’s until the top decreases. (Another way to avoid the DPN’s is to use Flexi Flips which I tried on the Flip Flop socks I knit for my daughter.)

I choose some yarn that had been sitting around for a while, but it was sock yarn and labeled as “washable”. Generally, I hand wash anything I knit because I know the time and effort I put into creating the item. But if I knit baby items they will be to give away, and I need some type of yarn that will hold up. The photo above was taken BEFORE I washed the hat.

“Barbara Deserved Better” Yarn By Madeline Tosh

The name of the pink yarn I had in my stash was “Barbara Deserved Better” named for a character in a TV show, I believe. Anyway, when I search for yarn by this name it looks much better online! My ball of pink yarn has very little variation in color and is all dull pink without any splotches of bits of color throughout. See my ball of yarn in the photo below, and compare it to online pictures at Jimmy Beans Wool. I did not buy it at Jimmy Beans, and I can’t remember where it came from, but I certainly got a dull and colorless skein!

Above is a photo of the hat AFTER washing and drying. When it came out of the washer it was very fuzzy, so I took a chance and put it in the dryer for 10 minutes. My little hat also seemed to have faded to a dull and lifeless pink! I haven’t been a big fan of Madeline Tosh yarns, and this makes me even less so.

Practicing Color-work

Another reason I wanted to knit a small project in-the-round was to try my hand at knitting some motifs in contrasting yarn. Inspired by the designs in a new book (150 Scandinavian Motifs) I chose a little puppy and chick for the brim design. Yup, that is supposed to be a chick! My color-work knitting needs help, but this was good beginner practice.

The green color yarn I used for the animals was leftover Yummy 2-Ply yarn from Miss Babs. It was one of the colors I used in my Bay’s Edge Shawl. It held up well.

In the end, the hat looks pretty bad. I will keep it as a practice piece because I wouldn’t give it to anyone to put on their poor baby! I love making hats, so I will make more (with better yarn), and I will improve my skills along the way. I’m still looking for the best washable baby yarn (that is not acrylic) too.

As far as yarn goes, I’ve been much happier overall with Malabrigo, Manos del Uruguay, and Miss Babs brands. I just need to look for “superwash” labels.

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