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Make a Quick and Easy Newborn Hat

June 5th, 2008 in patterns & designs, knitting
Tina_Hilton Tina Hilton, contributor
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Caps for little ones are quick and easy to make.  The ones pictured here feature a ribbed stitch.  The posted pattern is for a warm stockinette snuggler. Baby caps are also a great way to use up the odds and ends of your yarn stash.
Check out the cute hat on this handsome baby boy born on March 5, 2008.
Caps for little ones are quick and easy to make.  The ones pictured here feature a ribbed stitch.  The posted pattern is for a warm stockinette snuggler. Baby caps are also a great way to use up the odds and ends of your yarn stash.

Caps for little ones are quick and easy to make.  The ones pictured here feature a ribbed stitch.  The posted pattern is for a warm stockinette snuggler. Baby caps are also a great way to use up the odds and ends of your yarn stash.

Photo: Tina Hilton
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Chances are, your local hospital provides hats for all of the babies born there not just because they are so darn cute but also for health reasons. Studies have shown that in newborns, the head is an important area for heat exchange with the environment. Their noggin represents a remarkable quarter of their total skin surface area, and the newborn brain is responsible for 44 percent of total metabolic heat production. Hats decrease body heat loss in a newborn by 20 percent thus keeping the little one comfortably warm and healthy.

My local hospital, Watauga Medical Center, had been providing commercially made caps for many years. Three years ago, the Director of Volunteers, Phyllis Greene, decided to reach out to the community and create a program to involve local knitters to create hand-made caps for newborns. The hospital donates the yarn and a local yarn shop welcomes the volunteer knitters to congregate once a week to select yarn for their caps and to sit and knit. Last year, 637 newborns were presented with lovingly crafted hats. The babies were comforted, and the parents appreciated the kind gesture.

Utilize your talents and get involved! Contact your local hospital to learn about their newborn cap program.


QUICK & EASY NEWBORN CAP

Choose a Yarn

Fingering to double-knit yarn:

SRK Angel Baby, Plymouth Dreambaby, and Wendy/Peter Pan are good choices.

Equipment

Size 3 needles

Step-by-Step

  1. Cast on 36 stitches loosely (leave an 8-inch length of yarn end to sew seam up with).
  2. Row 1 knit.
  3. Row 2 purl.
  4. Repeat rows 1 and 2 until work measures approx 12 inches.
  5. There should be 16 purl ridges on each side of the work.


Finishing

  1. Bind off loosely
  2. Draw up one side to form a crown.
  3. Sew up side seam.

 

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posted in: patterns & designs, knitting, quick and easy newborn hat, preemie cap program
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Comments (1)

Knitit writes: I'm confused about your directions for the stockinette stitch premie cap pattern: The directions say to knit until there are 16 purl rows on each side of the fabric. Will I encounter purl rows on the knit side of stockinette stitch fabric? Do you mean to knit the cap in K1, P1 ribbing? Posted: 7:37 pm on June 22nd
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