love-dipped

More hearts! I heart Elizabeth Zimmermann! Her patterns with their indirect directions (if you've ever knit from her writing, you know it's not really an oxymoron) empower a knitter to think through a construction and adapt it as desired.

I give you, for instance, the Heart Hat from her book Knitting Workshop (scroll down to find it). In the book, she refers to the hat for an example on applications for i-cord (the cord formed from knitting a small number of stitches circularly). I-cord encircles the neck opening and face opening of the Heart Hat. In the photo-caption in the book, it refers to the pattern in the index. If you go to the pattern, you will find the instructions for an adult-sized hat or a heart-shaped elbow patch. Great! But what if you want to make a baby-sized hat??? Elizabeth would probably tell you to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and figure it out. That might seem a bit harsh at first, but really, if you've read through her books (which often read like prose) then you have the tools you need to figure it out: that garter stitch maintains proportion when scaled down or up; that a simple percentage system (which she outlines for you) can yield a custom-fit sweater; that algebra and geometry have true application in the real world (of knitting).

So, channeling my inner-Elizabeth and with my fingers crossed, I forged ahead to make a Heart Hat in a baby size using dk-weight yarn and size US size 4 needles. Guess what? It worked!
This sweet little hat fits loosely on a newborn baby! Sweet M will be able to wear this hat all winter (we still have a lot to go, I'm afraid). I tipped the i-cord ties with the rose wool, and I think it makes them look dipped... love-dipped!