In November of 2011, someone close to me asked if I had any crochet item lying around the house that would be a suitable gift for a baby shower.
As it happened, I didn’t, but I did have an enormous stash to work from, so using some yarn I had then recently acquired, a 5.0 mm hook, and a free pattern that is no longer available, I made this munchkin crochet hat:

got it packed up and sent out.
Four months later, I got this adorable photo of the munchkin for whom I had crocheted the munchkin hat wearing it in all of her munchkin glory:

Fast forward to last week.
I found myself looking over the feed on my Facebook account and noticed that a friend had posted a photo of a cute baby. After carefully looking it over, I could see not one scrap of crochet anywhere on or around the baby.
Not a blanket, not a bow, not a flower, not a hat.
“Cute baby,” I said, but where, I wanted to know, was the crochet?
I eventually caught up with the friend whose posted the photo and offered to remedy the situation. After a short discussion, we decided on a munchkin crochet hat. One for the baby whose photo I had seen, and one for another cousin who had been born three weeks earlier.
So today, after I had spent the afternoon working around a weirdness I was experiencing with my Flickr account, I decided to set that project aside and start work on the hats so I could feel that I had accomplished something.
The whole weekend had been gray and overcast except for when it was gray and foggy, and that seemed to have influence my color choice. Instead of the usual retinal damage palette I gravitate to, I found myself using Red Heart Super Saver light gray and some (to my mind) subdued pastels.
Because of the decision I made to use one color for the odd rounds and to use six colors in a rainbow progression for the even rounds, the work went very slowly, but eventually I did make progress.
Here (with all of the ends bunched up inside the hat) is how far I had gotten when the day was about to be swallowed by the sunset:

I am, at this point, second guessing my decision to use gray, but for now, I will persist, moving forward the only way possible: one stitch at a time.
Related posts: Stash down challenge: Day 28
Bundles of Joy
Wardrobes for infants of today are so much nicer than the typical palette of our children’s time period. Everything was always the same print pastel blue, pink, yellow, green & white….This would be adorable with a pair of stone washed jeans, a long sleeves onesie k matching booties. I’m loving the colors you chose!
Oops!
& matching booties
Oh, I love the colors in this hat!
I find the idea to use one color for the odd rows and a rainbow progression for the even rows to be inspiring. It is exactly these types of ideas that will help me grow in my crochet skills.
I can’t wait to see the finished hat. It is shaping up to be adorable.
You always are forward-looking (and doing!) in your crochet style. I learn something new or become inspired to try something different from nearly each of your blog posts. Guess that’s why I have been following you for years and years. (BTW, yours is the only blog about which I can say that.)
Your color choices for this adorable hat are wonderful – still baby appropriate yet not the same old-same old. Can’t wait to see the finished project.
Colors for babies are much different these days. I’ve seen blankets in darker grey than your grey, trimmed in turquoise or fluorescent orange or hot pink, even that bright, glow in the dark green. Almost anything goes, it seems. I like your color choices. Looking forward to the finished hat.
Leslie, I love the hats! And colors are perfect?