Last week as I was finishing work on Eileen Tepper’s Crochet Ribbed Newsboy Hat, I noticed that she had yet another new hat that she had added to her oeuvre: a retro style granny square hat.

When, I wanted to know, would the pattern be ready for testing?

Lucky me, it was ready yesterday; so today while my mom and I went out for coffee, I brought along a large assortment of yarn, an L hook, and a printed copy of the pattern I was testing.

I had wanted to make it using my beloved Red Heart Super Saver grape fizz, but I knew that keeping the changes in the variegation matched would take more concentration than I could muster in a coffee shope setting, so I decided to go with a rain bow treatment.

By late mid-afternoon, the hat was done. Here is a view of the interior of the hat:

and here is my son’s tiger, Hobbes, once again pressed into service as a hat model:

From there I got to work on the details of the designer Elizabeth Trantham’s Hello Kitty inspired hat.

I had been stymied in my efforts to finish the hat because I was not satisfied with the Berroco Comfort pink I had purchased. Channeling my inner Goldiocks, I felt it was too dark, while another of the pinks was too muted, and a third still tended too much toward orange.

Eventually, I found a partial skein of Red Heart With Love hot pink in my stash and got to work on the edge and the strands to be braided:

Then, using the Berroco Comfort I had used of the body of the hat, I made two ears:

Finding another bit of Red Heart With Love daffodil, I crocheted a nose:

while I used Red Heart Super Saver black for the eyes:

and the whiskers:

The only thing left to do was to use more of the hot pink to make a bow:

And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow, I can bring all of these disparate pieces together and create a finished project.