Strawberries & Cream Beanie (knit)

The pattern "Kaiya Mei" is SO CUTE : https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kaiya-mei. It's free and comes with a color chart to follow. The link shared also gives tips on adjusting the pattern for newborn, child, and adult sizing. I changed my needle size based on the yarn I had on hand and made some adjustments based on that! I used some of my re-calculations from Purl Soho's "Friendly Fair Isle" pattern (using the same weight of yarns and same needles as here).

• Red Heart Soft Essentials in Misty Rose and Cream
• US 9 (5.5 mm) 16" circulars for ribbing
• US 10.5 (6.5 mm) 16" circulars for rest of hat
• Followed "newborn" sizing for kid size (cast on 56 with smaller needles, ribbing 1x1 for 6 rounds before switching to larger needles)
• Skipped rows 16, 17, 21, 31, 32, 33 because length was long enough. Next time I try this I'll maybe skip a few rows earlier on.
• Finished measurements:
• circumference - 16 inches, unstretched
• height - 8 inches, not including pom pom
• Notes:
• Not as stretchy as a "single layer" knit without all the yarn in the inside (don't know the technical terminology for that)
• With the finished measurements above that I would size for an older toddler (2-4 years), this one I'd probably go more with a 12-24 months but it could go a little older too given its height/length/depth (whatever you call it).

I learned how to read a color chart (seriously so much easier than I thought it was) AND I learned how to wrap the yarn as I knit to keep the inside of the hat neater (my precious color work patterns didn’t have too long of floaters so I didn’t really need to know how to do this but now I know how and it isn’t hard!!)!! Here's the KnitPicks tutorial made it click for me: https://tutorials.knitpicks.com/fair-isle-or-stranded-knitting/

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