Renaissance has been so jealous of Emily’s “Rainbow” Inca hat and even went so far as to rifle through my yarn stash until she found the leftover yarn I made it from; which she brought to me and asked, with big pleading eyes, that I use it to create a hat for her.

Pattern: Summer Star Hat, by Mary Triplett
Yarn: Noro Taiyo, left over from Emily’s Inca Hat, Color #11, less than half a skein
Needles: US #6 DPNs

I found myself wandering aimlessly around the house after the girls had gone to sleep on Friday, so I sat down to begin organizing my knitting stash and discovered that I had this adorable little pattern crammed in amongst many other forgotten knitterly things. I cast on right then and there (about 11pm or so) and worked until about 1am. I then spent most of the next day working feverishly on it and finished it just before the girls went off to bed. (In case you’re wondering, that’s LESS than 24 hours…I felt like a super knitter, even though I never could have done it had Michael not taken over for the entire day while I remained curled up under my blanket with my project.)

Of all my girls, Renaissance is definitely the most knitworthy. She genuinely wants me to knit things for her and is giddy whenever I present her with a new handmade item. When I gave her this hat, she yelled “Yay!” and started jumping up and down, then had to run to the mirror to see how it looked on her and then insisted on wearing it to bed because she believed it would give her “good rainbow dreams.” You better believe that I’ll keep knitting for someone who appreciates it as much as that!

The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn and #8 needles, but I figured it would turn out too small for my three year old, so I bumped my needles down significantly and spent a lot of time worrying whether it would actually fit her when I was done. Ren was only too happy to relieve my fears and try it on throughout its construction–she thought it was so funny to wear a hat that still had knitting needles in it! It fits snugly, but the cotton in the yarn is stretching each time she wears it and it’s fitting better with each day.

I think it’s just darling, even if the stitch is kind of annoying to work…knit loosely, very loosely! I’m definitely going to make some more of these; I think Rachel would be so adorable in a little yellow hat with an orange flower on the side. Perhaps I’ll make a wee little one as well in case Baby #4 turns out to be a girl; it’d be super cute on a newborn.

(I’ve also been informed by a certain five year old that it would look very good on her as well…in the same color, of course.)