'tis the season...

Holiday stripes for your little one...


You will need two skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca (or any nice wool)--one white, one red, a size 7 circular needle (or whatever size you need for a gauge of approximately 5 stitches per inch), a set of dpn's and one hour or so to sit and knit....The stripes decrease in size gradually, so your stripe pattern is:  6 white, 6 red, 5 white, 5 red, 4 white, 4 red, 3 white, 3 red...

SO...HERE GOES...

With the circular needle and the red yarn, cast on 71 stitches.  Join and knit in seed stitch (knit one, purl one) round and round for about 1.5 inches.  Decrease one stitch. Knit six rounds in white.  Six rounds in red.  Five rounds in white.  Five rounds in red.  Knit one round in white.  Now begin decreasing seven stitches every other row, while you knit three more rounds of white, four rounds in red, three in white, three in red,then decrease every other row, knitting in white 'til the end....finish off, add a little tail of candy-striped cord or a big, fluffy pom-pom.  Et voilà!  A warm, cozy and festive hat for your toddler!

For a baby, do the same thing on 63 stitches (without decreasing after the seed stitch border).  For adults, work on 98 stitches...Change the colors to suit the season!  Have fun!

For those of you who need more detailed, step-by-step instructions, I should have a .pdf available in February...in the meantime, please ask for help!  I'll be glad to walk you through it...I am pwa on Ravelry...