New hat, new yarn, free pattern!

Hey guys! So I'm definently NOT in Florida at the moment, as the moving van is nowhere near my parent's new house....but that's okay! I'm taking today to finish the hats that were ordered over the past couple weeks and haven't been finished yet. And I keep telling myself if I finish them, then I can go to tomorrow's Ravelry meetup in Zionsville. I do love the store, and it will be my last SnB before I leave the US for another 6 months. Yikes!

Since I've been avoiding all the projects that I want to/need to finish before I head back, I had a little baby hat spree and made 3 and have already given them all away. I'm most proud of this one:

Want to know how to make it? No?! Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

On size 7 dpns with worsted weight yarn (I used Vanna's Choice in the "Fern" color) cast on 60 (15 per needle). Knit plain old stockinette stitch for 5 inches. Got it? Sweet. So now we've got to make the crown, so you're going to do another round and do a K2tog on the last 2 stitches of each needle. We now have 56. On the next round, we're going to knit 5, then K2tog all the way around. You'll be decreasing 8 stitches on this round. Next round- *K4, K2tog*, next round, *K3, K2tog* Got it? It's really easy and it makes a cute little spiral. If you want your spiral to be less extreme, do a plain knit row between each decrease row.

When you're down to 2 stitches per needle, knit those two together. Then on the next row, K2tog again so that we're down to 4 stitches. Cut yourself about 6 inches of yarn and loop it through those top 4 stitches and pull it tight and then anchor it down into hat and weave in your ends. Now we've got to make the Ogre ears, which are done like this:

Pick up 6 stitches in a circle-ish pattern at a place where ogre ears would typically be located and knit them on to 2 dpns. Knit 5 rounds like this. On the next round, knit into the front and the back of each stitch, making 6 new stitches (for our mathematically challenged, we now have 12 on the needles) Knit 5 rows even and then cast off very tightly so it doesn't curl. Got it? Sweet. Now do it again on the other side. After you've finished, weave in your ends and stick that hat on a nearby baby or cat, whichever is closer at the moment of completion.

That's about it...I worked on the turquoise/charcoal hoodie last night and am ready to start the raglan increases. I still haven't taken a picture of it, but I have named it which I guess is progress. It's name is Alcide, and either you get it or you don't...but I would feel like a giant dork if I explained where I got the name from. I think it fits. It might get changed again though, because I already have another design brewing for a certain ravelry group in which the sock would have to be called "Alcide" aswell, and I just can't have 2 projects with the same name. So I bet you're wondering what yarn I plan on using for Alcide, right?

Thought so. It's none other than Eric's Lizard toes in a special colorway I made him dye for me. If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for green. His website is http://www.sweatersfordragons.com/ and he's got some really great colorways. You should go check it out- his colorways are so original and the yarn is delicious- I love it! I will definently be buying more soon, once I can justify buying more sock yarn...I took pictures of all my American sock yarn today and will load it into Ravelry later....scary!