Click for Babies - Happy Mother's Day! - Lacy Baby Beanie Pattern

Happy Mother's Day, knitting, crocheting, and non-yarn-loving mothers alike!

If you are like me and love quick, cute baby knits but have no children of your own to foist them upon, Click for Babies might be your answer!

Last year I found Click for Babies while looking for an organization that needed baby knits. (I was out of reproducing cousins but still wanted to make baby things.)

Click for Babies is in many states, and they distribute baby beanies to new parents.

The only drawback is, well, the baby beanies have to be purple. Now, I don't have any problem with all of you purple lovers out there, but let's just say purple is not my favorite color. I had enough of the color purple growing up, and I think I could go the rest of my life without it and be completely happy without it. 

But! The beanies are purple for a reason. They're purple to remind new parents about this thing called "The Period of Purple Crying." PURPLE is an acronym so parents remember not to shake their new bundle of smells when it cries and they can't figure it out. (Seriously, check out their website for more info. I think it's a great program.)

Last year two other ladies and myself sent in over 20 beanies! At one point I was pretty tired of making variations of the same pattern for what seems like forever, but then I remembered that I would have purple yarn left if I stopped knitting! (That was motivation, people, but I still have purple left. At least I don't have to buy more for this year!)

Here is my own version of a Click for Babies pattern, partially inspired by the market bag on purlbee (click here to see it). 

Lacy Baby Beanie

Size 10.5 and 15 straight needles

Worsted Weight Yarn in Purple

CO 51 (or 61 for a larger baby) onto Size 10.5 straights

Knit in K1P1 ribbing for 1 inch

Switch to Size 15 straights.

Row 1: Purl

Row 2: K1, *(YO, K2Tog) to end

Row 3: Purl

Row 4: *(SSK, YO) to last stitch, K1

Continue in this pattern for 3 1/2 inches. 

To Decrease:

Row 1: *(P1, P2Tog) across

Row 2: K1, *(YO, K2Tog) to end

Row 3: P2Tog  across

Row 4: *(SSK, YO) to last stitch, K1

Row 5: P2Tog across

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail for finishing. Using a tapestry needle, thread yarn through the final stitches on the needle and pull them together. Sew the back of the beanie up through the lace pattern by sewing through the purl rows and then use the invisible mattress stitch to join the rows of ribbing.

Notes:

The lacy pattern is rather large on size 15 needles, so you can continue using size 10.5 needles if you like.  I think it will still do a great job of keeping baby's head warm.

If you knit a few extra inches of the lace pattern, you can tighten the yarn a bit as you sew up the beanie and make a "slouchy" beanie.

If you have any pattern corrections or notice any errors, please let me know in the comments!

I forgot to take pictures of the lacy beanie I made last year before I sent them to our state's Click for Babies collection site. I will another one up and post pictures soon!

So, what do you say? Click with me?

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Note: Parts of this post, including the pattern, were originally posted under the old blog, Honest Stitches.