A tale of 3 hats

This vintage pussy cat balaclava pattern is kicking my ass! Above is the THIRD incarnation, and it still doesn't fit properly! The saga reads a bit like the story of the three bears .....

The First version: I made it according to the pattern in worsted weight yarn, and it worked out just fine, except it was toooooo big! (that said, the pattern worked out just fine. The Ravelry notes said that it was fitting small, but I must have had a later publication of the pattern, which was emmended.)

The Second version: I made the hat again in Cascade 220 Sport Superwash, which seemed like it was the right thing to do since the worsted turned out too big. But it was tooooooo small!  My needle choice was too small, should have used 3.75mm for the neck band, instead of 3mm - the poor kid will never get through it. (as a note, really liked the yarn, especially the heathered colour, it was nice to knit with). Rather than rip it out, I'll just leave it for the next baby who comes along. 

And then there were Three: This is when the shit really hit the fan. I made a third in pink, because Lucy (baby/recipient/niece) has developed an appreciation for the colour. (Note, the pink was not as fun to knit with as the heathered aqua, but I really love my niece, so I did it, despite the fact that she's too young to place requests.)  I whipped it up and delivered it on Christmas eve, and the next day we tore it open, tried it on her, and she cried. The neckband was still too tight!  I took it home, ripped out the neck, knitted it again on larger needles, and delivered it in time for Christmas dinner. We tried it on, and the neck was juuuuuust right! But .... (to quote Pee-Wee herman, "everyone I know has a big but"), now it is obvious that there isn't enough coverage on the forehead.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I don't have any DK/Sport weight yarn at home, so I'm just going to put off version four until I get back to work on Thursday. 

On the upside, She does look awful cute in it, and the ears are working. If you were wondering what's with the outfit, she was dressed as an elf for Christmas (complete with jingle bells on her ankles), which was even cuter.

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!