Uptown Babe

I've had a few thoughts rolling around in my head lately about cute baby hats.  I've seen a lot of them.  A LOT!  But I'm not talking about 6-month-old babies with cute little hats to adorn their heads...I'm talking bitty hats for bitty newborn heads. :)

I've painted this picture in my head, and come to the conclusion that there would be nothing cuter than a little babe wearing a little knit stocking hat, with an outrageously large pom-pom on the end.  Probably not very functional, but something about that huge pom-pom and the tiny baby would be the best.

I've seen a couple versions of this here and there.  And I thought I had found a pattern that would lead me to this type of hat, only to find that the link for the pattern no longer existed.  I tried to get there several times, but it was broken. :(   My friend, Melissa, over at Knitting A Baby has knit a hat like this and it's just perfect! :)  She made it as a prop hat for another friend.

So since I'd seen pictures of what I wanted, I wasn't going to be swayed by other, similar-but-not-quite-right patterns.  So I just created my own.  This hat is simple, in all senses of the word.  Just a basic baby hat with slow decreases to create a bit of a stocking hat, until the point was reduced to 5 stitches.  From there I just knit I-Cord until my desired length and used the remainder of the skein for the pom-pom.

Yes, that's a lot of yarn, and some may not believe the best use of yarn, but I thought it fit.  I could have made it a tiny bit bigger but I wanted to make sure I had enough yarn to attach the pom-pom to the i-cord.

This hat has no intended recipient, and I'd probably be more likely to put it on a little girl's head than a little boy's, but I couldn't resist just sitting down and knitting this up.  I ripped back several times to change decreases, but I finally found something that works.

I love this little hat.  I wish I had a baby to model it on.  But I think people would think me weird if I just randomly went around asking if I could put my knit hat on their baby's head so I could take some pictures! lol

I'm calling this Uptown Babe.  It might sound kind of modern and creative, but really, I couldn't think of what to call it.  So because it's used with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky Hand Dyes in colorway Uptown, the name is actually very simple.  Like the hat! :)

I probably wouldn't let a little babe wear this hat without supervision, though.  Pom-poms can be easy to pull apart and because the tail on this stocking cap is really long, I wouldn't want it to create a choking hazard.  :) But it would be pretty cute in pictures!

And just a fun fact to note - I was afraid the pom-pom might come apart a little because it's so large, so to keep it nice and tidy, I stored the pom-pom inside the hat.  Perfect fit!  The hat opening and the pom-pom itself are just about the same size. :)