Frog Hat - My first ever completed knitting project! :0)

First off, I have to say Welcome to my new followers!

And then I have to follow that with an apology.....

I have been such a blogger slacker this past week and a half! lol

I had a bit of a reality check and I realized how close Halloween is, and of course I hadn't done anything yet...

Except come up with my Trunk or Treat idea.

Oops...

So I spent the last week teaching myself to knit and making my frog hat for my Halloween costume.

For being the first thing I've ever knitted, I'm pretty proud of it  :0)

I used this pattern for the hat that I found here

Here's how I did it...

Yarn:

I used Red Heart -#4 Medium, worsted yarn in color # 0624 Tea Leaf - I bought the huge skein of yarn, the super saver, and I didn't use much of it. I would say 1 regular size skein should be plenty to make 1 hat.
I also used Vanna's Choice #4 yarn in black and white for the eyes and mouth.

Needles:
Circular needle, 16-in length, size 6 & 7

Gauge:
I don't understand gauge yet...lol...so I just knitted it exactly like it said and it worked perfectly. 

Instructions: 

Cast on 80 stitches with size 6 circular needles. Place marker. Join, being careful not to twist.

 Cuff: Work k1, p1 cuff for 6 rows

(I actually got mine ribbing off slightly so it really doesn't looked ribbed, but I still like it.)

Switch to larger needles.

Round 1: *k8, m1 ; continue from * to end of round (90 stitches)

Round 2: knit

continue in stockinette stitch until hat measures 8.5". (just knitting-no purls since you are on circular needles)

Switch to dpns when you can no longer work on circulars. 

(I don't completely grasp the concept yet of using DPN's either ...lol...so, go figure, I did mine differently but I'm going to post that separately.I'm currently working on another hat so I'll take pics then of the finishing steps.)

Begin decrease rows

Round 1: *k7, k2tog; repeat from * to end (80 stitches)

Round 2: knit

Round 3: *k6, k2tog; repeat from * to end (70 stitches)

Round 4: knit

Round 5: *k5, k2tog; repeat from * to end (60 stitches)

Round 6: k2tog across all stitches (30 stitches)

Round 7: k2tog across all stitches (15 stitches)

Break yarn, leaving tails about 8" long. Draw yarn through remaining stitches

and fasten off.

Now as for the eyes, I honestly can't tell you exactly how I did them...I  mean, I know how I did them, but doing them and explaining it in the proper crochet terms I just can't do... But I did use crochet for the eyes, then attached them to the hat in the center of the eye with matching black yarn...I googled (A LOT) since I had no idea how to crochet or knit a week ago...There is a lot of great tutorials out there on how to crochet a flat circle, then others on how to incorporate multiple colors and I just tried and combined different techniques until I found something that worked for me..It might not be done the proper way, but it worked and turned out cute, so I'm happy with it...

I don't like not being able to give exact steps though so i wil try harder in the future to be able to write out understandable patterns for all steps.

Also for those of you out there who, like me, are new to knitting...

Here's a couple of helpful tips that I found out by trial and error.

In the round knitting:

Garter stitch - knit 1 round, Purl 1 round

Stockinette Stitch - knit every round

Reverse Stockinette Stitch - Purl every round

These stitches have to be done differently when you are knitting in the round (using circular needles) because you are knitting in a spiral instead of back and forth.

Most of the time it looked like the pattern designers would just write "work all rounds in Stockinette Stitch"  and if you don't know the above rules you will end up with a garter stitch instead of the stockinette stitch...

I did that the first time and it took me FOREVER to figure out what I did wrong...lol...

After a lot of googling I figured out my mistake..needless to say I was not a happy knitter..lol!  :0)

Also when buying circular needles, you cannot knit on needles longer than the hat you are going to make...

For instance: If I want the band on my hat to measure 21" then I will need circular needles smaller than 21"...Most patterns specify the length to use, but of course I didn't notice this until I had bought a set of huge circular needles...lol...but it's ok. It's just another thing to add to my stash.

One last little tip I  found, and this is more a personal preference, but the bamboo knitting needles are the way to go! I have a bag of misc size plastic and metal knitting needles I found at the thrift store a few weeks ago for $0.50! It was a great deal, but after buying the bamboo circular needles I have found there is a huge difference. The bamboo ones are so much easier and comfortable for me to use.

So this is what I've been up to lately...

I've also just started on a fly hat for Tyler(my oldest) for his Trunk or Treat costume.

I also still have a few other projects in the works that have kind of been pushed to the back burner lately. Hopefully I'll have something else to show you all soon so it won't be so long before I post again!  :0)

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