I wanted to knit a new hat for Jeff’s grandson for his birthday and I fell in love with the Pom-Pom Hat pattern in Sweet Pickles. Sweet Pickles is one of my favorite knitting books, it contains so many adorable patterns! (It was the second time I knit a pattern from that book, the first time was the Springtime Vest.) For the hat, I chose some alpaca yarn from Black Wolf Ranch & Fiber that I brought home from the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Oh my goodness, that yarn is so soft! It was such a joy to knit with. I loved that the yarn was the natural color, such a beautiful subtle brown. For the contrasting color, I chose a blue yarn that was leftover from a sweater I knit for Jeff’s grandson when he was a baby, which felt special. I was afraid that the hat was going to be too big for him, but with the fold up brim it’s so customizable for growing heads. It fit him and has plenty of growing room, so it can be enjoyed for quite some time.
The most exciting part of this hat for me was the fact that I made my very first pom pom! To be honest, I was a little intimidated to make a pom pom and decided to pick up a pom pom maker at a yarn shop. Though I have nothing to compare it to, I’m glad I got the pom pom maker because after I watched the tutorial on youtube, it was such a breeze to make a pom pom! (If you’ve been intimidated by making pom poms, I recommend picking up a pom pom maker and watching this tutorial.) It was so easy that Bracken made his own pom pom after watching the video with me. It was great that two pom pom makers came in the package because we were able to make our pom poms together side by side. He really took off with his pom pom making and now we have a whole pile of them! I’m a bit obsessed with pom poms now too and have already started knitting another pom pom hat…
Dana says
That hat is so cute that I would wear it my self!
Janel says
So cute! What a lovely and thoughtful gift. I am working on hats for my own grandson and granddaughter for the holidays, so I was excited to see such a cute pattern and hear that the hat really fit! 🙂
Now that you’ve made a few pompoms, I would also recommend Susan B Anderson’s video tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pooXUVhVgZ8 — it helped me make the first pompoms I was really happy with! Gotta wrap, wrap, wrap to get a good one, even if you don’t go multi-colored like hers.
tarynkae says
I finally got a chance to watch Susan’s video. Thanks so much for the link Janel!