We have an acquaintance who is having a baby and is due in April.  As soon as I find out what do I want to do?  Well crochet a puppy dog, frog, or panda bear hat for sure so I start going thru my binder looking for newborn sizes.  It was then that I realized I have never made a hat for a newborn; our grandsons were four and seven months old before I started crocheting hats so I begin looking up patterns.

My search left me disappointed for a couple reasons.

First, newborn babies have 13″ - 14″ heads when they are born.  But newborn patterns newborn patterns I was finding were for 15″ hats?  Have you ever put on a hat that is one inch or two inches too big for your head? My husband has….poor guy, the first hat I knit him I made about an inch to big, it looked commical and there was no way it would have stayed on his head if he bend over, looked down or there was a light breeze.  Ideally a hat is 1″- 2″ smaller in diameter than the head it is going on.

Secondly, all these patterns that say newborn – 6 months or 0-6 months.   I’m here to tell you I know how much babies grow in the first 3 months and the first 6 months.  A six month old will have a head size somewhere between 14 and 17″.  Brady was 17″ at the end of six months (the day we put earflaps and a couple extra rows on his 4 month old hat that was now too short ) .  I guess if it is a hat knit in ribbing you could get that kind of stretch but I want to crochet a hat. I want the newborn to be able to wear it….when he or she is born, not 3 months later.

So I’ve gotten out my favorite K hook, some worsted weight yarn and am hooking away to make a newborn hat, with earflaps, that will feature some kind of animal face….maybe a kitty?  Stay tuned, the pattern WILL most definitely be posted here.

Update March 26,2011

Crochet a newborn beanie or earflap hat, or to crochet a newborn puppy dog hat