Week 4 - Hello Kitty Hat

My neighbor has a 5-year old granddaughter who absolutely LOVES Hello Kitty.  It is because of her that anytime I come across a Hello Kitty craft project, I usually pin it with her in mind to do it later.  With the cool weather finally upon us here in Southwest Alabama, at least periodically, I knew it was time to make her this hat.  

The details in the hat are so cute... and were relatively easy to do.  

The original pattern came from Amy at Crochet Creative Patterns.  I used the pattern as a guide more than anything, making my own changes to it.  She has the size guide for lots of ages, but the right size didn't seem like it was going to be big enough.  I also considered that the recipient of this hat has lots of thick curls to fit underneath.  I worked the original pattern, increasing on 2 additional rows to make the hat larger.

I also made some changes to the piece that hangs from the earflaps.  I used 3 24-inch pieces of the black, white, and hot pink yarn.  I pulled the pieces through a gap in the yarn at the bottom of each earflap, tying it off with a spare piece of yarn just underneath the earflap.  This allows the braid and tassel to be secure enough to not fall off.  From there, I just grouped the yarn into three sections and braided them together.  The ends were tied off with another spare piece of yarn, leaving enough at the end to give it a tassled look.

The final product turned out better than I had hoped, especially after starting it over twice in an attempt to get it the right size.  And the part that most surprised me is that in the end, it took only one day to make.

As far as the yarn goes, I used a variety of what I had on hand:

- Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White (1 skein)

- Loops & Threads Impeccable in Black (1 skein)

- Caron Simply Soft in Watermelon (1 skein)

- Bernat Baby Soft in Soft Yellow (1 skein)

The pattern called for a variety of hook sizes.  I used a size H hook for the hat ears, and earflaps, rather than size I as recommended so that the gauge was a little tighter.  (This is also part of why I had to increase on additional rows to get the correct size.)  The pink border around the bottom, as well as the eyes, nose, and bow, were done with a size G hook.  

If you're interested in trying out this pattern yourself, you can find it here.