Birthday Knits for the Boy

As soon as I saw this Minion beanie pattern on Ravelry (for free!), I knew exactly what Little Man would be getting for his fourth birthday! Despite having never seen the "Despicable Me" movies, my littles are excessively fond of minions (remember this project?). 

So with some Knit Picks' Comfy Worsted in "Planetarium" and "Creme Brulee" in hand, I got started. I did alter the pattern to be knit in the round -- a decision I'm very pleased with. Though I did make a mistake in joining, so my stitches are slightly off where they meet in the back. Wouldn't have been a problem if there were no color changes! Oh well, it's not obvious, and a little "cheating" when I wove in the ends disguises it a bit.

This was such a simple and satisfying knit, and also my first experience changing colors part way through a project. I did make a few other small changes to the pattern. I cast on the maximum number of stitches, but used the smallest size as a guide for the proper height. I also increased the goggle band to four rows instead of two, because i wanted it a bit thicker. But probably the biggest change was the crochet the eye  instead of knit it. I just did not like the look of the knitted eyes I saw -- I don't think knitting translates well to circles! Plus, making a grey i-cord and stitching it on seemed unnecessarily complicated. So I did the "less" complicated thing by teaching myself to crochet using the magic ring method (two rounds), with an extra round of single crochet for the goggle rim. Technically, I crocheted a baby hat about seven years ago, but haven't tried crochet since (and was so confused by it that I didn't count that project as much of a "success!"). Oh, and I crocheted a simple chain for the smile, since I wanted something a bit bolder. I don't anticipate taking up crochet any time soon, but it was gratifying to figure out enough for this project.

The cowl was a bit of an afterthought -- Little Man doesn't have a scarf, so I thought I'd use the leftover "Planetarium" to fix that. I used Bernat's free Handsome Scarf pattern as my basis, but obviously modified it for my own purposes. I added ribbing to the edge, and a buttonhole for a wooden toggle.

The stitch used to create the pattern was quite enjoyable (Purl 2 together without slipping stitches off needles, then Knit 2 together into the same stitches) -- not too complicated, and it creates a great texture. I'd like to play around with it a bit, as I think it would work well in a "seed stitch" type pattern. My only goof on this was that I somehow reversed the pattern half way through, which I of course discovered when the cowl was 90% complete! I must have added or omitted a row of regular knit stitches. It wasn't obvious enough to warrant ripping out so much, though. Little Man hasn't noticed it. *wink*

Little Man loves his hat and cowl (which fit him perfectly, thank goodness), and gets quite a kick out of putting them on and looking in the mirror.  Granted, he also likes to put them on other things, such as his longsuffering Winnie-the-Pooh bear...

This particular bear was mine when I was a child -- I don't think it's an official
Pooh bear, but it looks far more like E.H. Shepard's drawings than the more
modern versions. When he's not dressed as a Minion, that is.

Four years already? When did my tiny firstborn grow into this gangly, giggly, curious little boy? He knows so much (and think he knows even more), and talks enough for two. He told me a few weeks ago that "When I am four, I want to do homeschool." So that's what we'll do. At least he's ready, even if I'm not! 

Happy birthday, Little Man.

Raveled here.