I Knit the Polina Bonnet as a birthday present for one of Kenji’s new friends. One drawback of meeting a lot of babies around the same age is that they all have birthdays around the same time! Tomiko is helping me knit a bunch of baby hats. The good thing, however, is that baby knits are nice and quick!

The Polina Bonnet is from North 40: Baby Sweaters and Accessories, a book by EweKnit. EweKnit is one of our favourite yarn shops in Toronto. Claudia, the owner, publishes a lot of patterns for both babies and adults. The pattern includes three sizes, 0-6 months, 6-18 months, and 2 years plus. I knit the 6-18 month size as I normally have a loose gauge. As per the pattern, I used 3.5 mm circular needles. This hat uses just about 110 m of DK weight yarn.

To make the Polina Bonnet, you first knit a panel for the back of the head. Then you pick up stitches and knit around three sides of the panel. You shape the body of the bonnet with increases at the crown of the head. Due to the curved shaped of the bonnet, the pattern recommends circular needles, although it’s also possible to knit on straight needles. The lace order can be worked by either following the chart or written instructions. After that, you pick up stitches along the bottom edge and do a cable cast on to knit the strap. I used the cable cast on tutorial by Purl Soho here. You knit buttonholes into the strap, and once you’re done the knitting, you sew on buttons. Luckily I had two perfect faux pearl buttons in my stash!

The whole body of the bonnet is in garter stitch, which I never used to like. Until recently, I had thought garter stitch looked too becky-home-eccy. But now I love it! It’s squishy and has texture that looks lovely in solid colours. A few rows of seed stitch decorate both sides of the lace border for even more texture. I’m sure you could also omit the lace and just knit several rows of seed stitch if lace is not your thing.

I used just under one skein of Rooster Almerino DK in the Custard colourway. This yarn is 50% alpaca and 50% merino. That means it has a slightly drape and is toasty warm, but it has a bit of memory from the wool. I’ve knit other projects using this yarn, including the Trio of Hats Pixie and Trio of Hats Beanie, both by Woolly Wormhead.

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