I’m grateful for 5 year olds who think that Mommy’s birthday is worthy of a school holiday.

I’m grateful for Mark who gave his tickets to Blue Man Group to the Daddy and the large creature.

I’m grateful for the enthusiasm that my boys show when they play mini golf.

I am grateful for my husband who knows just what I wanted for Valentine’s day! And is smart enough to notice that the white chili I’ve been cooking all day doesn’t look right. Oops, I guess it would help to put the beans in it.

I am grateful for hot chili on a cold winter’s day.

I am grateful for little surprises, like the lady in Scotland who traded some yarn with me and threw in a set of stitch markers just for the heck of it. What a nice thing to do.

Today I am grateful for the laughter of 3 year olds in my house.

At one point, my middle creature says “watch what the birds do next!”

I asked him how he knows …

My big creature jumps in and says “Oh, he’s seen this before”

I said “yeah but that was at least a year ago, You’re only 5. How do you remember from that long ago?!”

He says (with a perfectly straight face) “I have a folder in my head that holds all my stuff!”

He has such a wonderfully creative and inventive mind and a thoughtful, kindhearted soul.

He loves his electronic things … computers … cell phones … PDAs … video games … etc. When he’s not working or playing on one, he enjoys creating them out of whatever materials he has handy. For example, in Papa’s workshop he was given the chance to build something out of wood. So he made himself a laptop that would also play his Nintendo DS video games. Cute.

Well, on Thanksgiving we were at Nana and Papa’s house and after the cousins left, the boys were left to play on their own. My creatures decided to open a store where the adults could buy stuff from them. My middle creature was selling drinks (he just loves to work the water dispenser in the fridge) and my big creature was selling his cardboard creations. Nana requested an iPod, which he went about to make and then sold to her. When he asked me what I wanted, I was a bit distracted and didn’t really have a good answer for him. So he went back to his shop. He came back to me with two wonderful things for me to buy – a “Comcast VMU” which stores all the info about my knitting projects and a “Knit Magic Pro” which will design patterns for me. They are both copyrighted “Orange Soda Inc.” (his favorite color is orange and his nickname at school is “Orange Soda”.)

I’m not only amazed every time he comes up with such unique and interesting ideas, I’m so impressed that he really puts so much thought into what he’s designing. Wouldn’t you expect a 10 year old to invent something that a 10 year old would be interested in – like the laptop he built? Not my 10 year old creature. Mine makes me something that he knows will be important to me, something that I am deeply interested in. Attention deficit? Baloney! Self-absorbed preteen? Bah! He’s paid enough attention to the knitting that I’ve been doing and the websites I’ve been lurking at (my VMU is set to the Ravelry website!) He knows enough to make a product that appeals to me and cares enough about me to make something that will make me happy.

I wonder if he knows how happy it really does make me …

Yesterday I decided that my small creature needed a hat to go with the mittens I’d knit for him. I didn’t see any patterns that really jumped out at me, so I just cast on and started knitting and made it up as I went along.

My small creature is 3 years old. His head circumference is about 20 inches. This hat also fits my middle creature who is 5 and a half. His head measures around. This hat could easily be made in another size or with another yarn. Sarah with An H has an excellent explanation of how to figure out how to do this in the pattern notes of her Flapper Hat pattern. If you would like to make this hat in a different size or with a different gauge yarn, you may need to adjust the number of rows of each color (more for a larger hat or thinner yarn, or fewer for a smaller hat or bulkier yarn) or adjust the number of rounds of ribbing so that the decreases aren’t too high or low on the head.

I had a skein (73 yards/50 grams) of purple Queensland Collection Peru Chunky Luxury (color A) and a skein (60 yards/50 grams) Queensland Collection Kathmandu Ultra in dark blue (color B). You could use any bulky weight yarn. Gauge on both yarns: 4 inches per inch, size 10 needles in stockinette stitch .

I used size a 10 16-inch circular needle and switched to double pointed needles when necessary. If desired, the entire hat may be worked on double-point needles instead of using a circular needle.

k2tog = knit 2 stitches together

Pattern directions:

Using color A, cast on 80 stitches, join, being careful not to twist.

Round 1: [K2, P2] to end. Repeat this round of 2×2 Rib for two inches.

Next round: Place marker to indicate beginning of round and join color B. Work 6 rounds of stockinette stitch, switching colors every 6 rows until you have two rows of each color.

Change to color B and begin decreasing

Decrease round 1: *k2tog, k6* around,

Decrease round 2 and 3: knit around
Decrease round 4: *k2tog, k5* around

Decrease round 5 and 6: knit around
Decrease round 7: *k2tog, k4* around

Decrease round 8 and 9: knit around
Decrease round 10: *k2tog, k3* around

Decrease round 11 and 12: knit around
Decrease round 13: *k2tog, k2* around

Decrease round 14 and 15: knit around
Decrease round 16: *k2tog, k1* around

Round 17 and 18: knit around
Decrease round 19: *k2tog* all the way around.

*k2tog* around until you have 3 stitches remaining on your needle and continue by making an i-cord about 2 inches or as long as you like. For directions on how to make an i-cord, check out KnittingHelp.com’s video (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Make a pom pom with both colors and attach it to the i-cord, weave in the ends, and voila! My small creature’s hat! If you make this hat, I’d love to hear from you!

Fold ribbing if desired.

a HUGE thanks to my dear friend Nicki for helping me get this pattern written out nicely!

“Oh they are usually like that, if they’re like that it means it’s melted on, BABY!”

I told him he was a very funny boy.

And again he made me laugh by telling me “And you are a very funny woman.”