Pattern Review – Slouchy Diamond Cap by Melody’s Makings

As many of you know, I’ve been working on the Anthology Blanket Knit-Along from the Underground Crafter. I wanted to make a coordinating item with the small bits of each color that are left over. Melody’s Makings patterns has several beautiful baby items I thought might work, so I tried there first. I decided on her Slouchy Diamond Cap, which is a free pattern (at the time of writing this). It’s available in knit and crochet, but I chose knit, to match the blanket.

The striping pattern I used was mostly influenced by how much of each color I had left. I started with the ribbing section in pink, then 1 round of yellow. I used green for the main section, since I had the most of that. Just before reaching the decreases for the top of the hat, I did 1 more round of yellow, and then finished it off with the purple. Overall, I think the sequence worked out quite well! I used the last bits all together to make the pom pom.

The hat worked up quickly. I’m a fairly slow knitter, but was able to finish it in just a few hours. The “travelling” stitches used for the diamond detail were completely new to me. I struggled with them a bit at first, but after the first round they came much more easily. The video tutorial links in the pattern were particularly helpful for this. I love learning new techniques, particularly in a smaller, more manageable project like this one.

The pattern was clear, and well written, and there were no errors that I noticed. My gauge was nowhere close to hers though. I used a size 6 needle instead of a size 8, and sport weight baby yarn instead of worsted, and my gauge was still a little too big. I chose to stick with this and do the newborn size instead of the 0-3 months. It came out just right for what I was looking for.

I’ve had the same gauge issue with other patterns, so I think maybe I just knit quite loosely compared to other people. This isn’t a bad thing, nor a fault of the pattern, it just means I have to make hook/yarn adjustments to get the right gauge and sizing. It also illustrates how important it is to check your gauge before starting a project!