Favorite Beanie for My Celebrity Family

One of my favorite things about Fall and Winter is when I cozy up with some yarn and needles. Of course, there are a million things I'd love to make. I have entire books filled with things I had planned on making for relatives, friends, or my own children... However, I usually only get to make a handful of things per season.

The celebrity beanie formerly known as Mine.

CC's late Christmas gift

This year, I made this beanie twice (pattern taken from the book seen below). Why this one? Well, because I think it's more fun to knit a pattern that changes every row, uses a cable needle, seems complicated, but ends up being a feasible feat. I thought I would finally make something for myself, but I ended up giving it to my little girl because it didn't "slouch" on me. So if I can offer any advice about knitting, it would be to listen to that voice in your head that says, "check your gauge." If you knit, you know what I mean.

With the next one that is intended for my niece, my tension was really tight after switching to the larger sized needles (after you do the ribbing you switch up 2 sizes). It still turned out pretty clean and nice looking, but she'll have to do a bit of stretching and wearing to break it in. I'll probably suggest that she wash it and smash it up a bit to make it softer. The good thing is, her mama is a crochet master and yarn expert these days!

Last Christmas, Angela (the aforementioned mama) gave me a great little pattern book. I've used this book so much I would recommend it to anyone that loves to knit. You can nudge the patterns enough to size them for someone, or simply use the right yarn and follow the directions (that's a new concept for me) for a great result.

The first time I made the cable knit hat was with a smooth chunky blend and larger needles. Katie IS a celebrity, as far as I'm concerned. She makes that hat looook mahhhvalous.