Knitting, Now with Crochet

I still need to sew on a button or two and block it, but look at what's done!

Pattern: Aviatrix hat by Justine Turner, 6 month size
Yarn: handspun superwash BFL
Started/Completed: August 4/August 6
Mods: see below

I think this was now the third time I've knit this pattern, and it definitely goes a little faster each time. As I've gotten more familiar with the pattern, I've made some minor adjustments. For starters, I worked the ribbing at the beginning and end as 1x1 except for the first two and last two stitches, which I worked as k2 on right-side rows and p2 on wrong-side rows. The reason for this was to create a selvedge, as stitches are picked up along both edges for the ear flaps at the end anyway and I just prefer to have a knit stitch next to a picked-up edge. I also slipped the first stitch of every row to make picking up the stitches a little easier. That meant that I had two fewer stitches than I should have had for the ear flaps, but that was easy to adjust by just working two fewer rows. Finally, I decreased one less stitch than specified before the ribbing at the back. This was because I would have ended up with an even number of stitches, and that would have meant a knit at one end and a purl at the other -- and that just doesn't work for me.

The yarn I used didn't look particularly girly to me, so I decided to add a small embellishment to make it a little more feminine (it is a baby gift for a girl, after all). I found this sweet little crocheted flower pattern on Ravelry, and it was easy even for my lapsed crochet skills. It took just a matter of minutes to complete, and I attached it by poking the ends through the fabric of the hat and weaving them in as usual.

Amazingly, even after knitting a second hat with this skein of handspun, I still have some leftover. It's not enough to do anything substantial, but perhaps some more crocheted flowers are in order.