Knitting Project: Justin's Birthday Finn Hat

Some of you might not know what the title of this hat means, but kudos to those of you who do :) My husband happens to love a cartoon called Adventure Time and the main character is a boy named Finn who wears a cream colored hat with little ears on it. When I started knitting and looked around at all the free patterns on Ravelry, I told my husband about this pattern I had found to make a Finn hat and he said, "That is actually something I would really want you to make me." So, I decided to make it for his birthday, which was yesterday. I got it finished earlier in the week but I didn't want to reveal until after I gave it to him.

He loved it :) I was a little worried honestly because it was quite the learning experience all the way around. You start with the straps as separate pieces and then you add them in certain places when you cast on the rest (so it's seamless). I had to learn to cable cast on first (which took forever to do, but it really does look nice). The main part of the hat is just knitted and I used double pointed needles (even though the pattern says a circular - I didn't have the right size circular, but I did have dpns). I'm actually really proud of how well the plain knitted section came out, it's definitely the best one I've done yet. After you get it the size you want, you have to separate out some stitches on scrap yarn for the ears (I had never done that before), then you kitchener stitch the top together (I had never done that either, but it looked good). Once the top seam is done, you work each ear separately and start by picking up stitches from the section you just kitchenered (I had never done that before either and I still don't think I did it right).

Anyway, the pattern also tells you to go back and seed stitch the edges so they don't curl but 1) I don't know how to do that after the fact and 2) I was worried that would make it too long for Justin so I figured I would leave it up to him ... and he likes it like it is :)

Here is my first ever kitchener stitching :) It's pretty cool - it weaves the stitches together so that they are attached and look almost seamless. I think it came out really good for my first time.

And check out the button! I looked through my button stash and I found this one - it was the only one like it and it is the exact same color as the yarn AND it's completely smooth! It was seriously just meant to be on this hat :) And it was given to me by my friend Tara, so thanks Tara :)

So, there's another knitting project done :) And I definitely learned a lot with this project. I tried a lot of new techniques and got better at the things I already knew how to do. Can't ask for more than that. Plus Justin liked it :) So it was worth all the work.