pumpkin head.

there is a story behind this hat.

first of all...my son is not in need of any more hats. at all. or shoes either. but that's a different story. no. my little man has enough hats to last him a very long time. however...as fall approached, i felt that he needed a pumpkin hat. what first halloween/harvest season is complete without one? so. i embarked on a journey...a quest actually...to find the cutest pumpkin hat pattern EVER. i searched high. i searched low. i scoured books, internet sites, knitting blogs, crocheting blogs...all in vain. i could not find the cute, little boy pumpkin hat pattern that i was looking for. i wanted it to be cute (obviously) but also with a bit of texture to the pattern. unique. i wanted unique. i could find nothing. not even a NON-unique pumpkin hat pattern. i began to fear that there was not such a pattern in existence. so i resigned myself to using a generic baby hat pattern. by using orange yarn and adding a top knot/i-cord to the top of the hat, i could make my own pumpkin hat from the generic pattern. i purchased the yarn and settled in to knit elijah's hat.

the very next day, i happened to stop by the local library. i perused the new book section, as is my usual, looking for any titles that popped off the shelf, looking like a good read. in that quiet, little new book section, i stumbled upon a treasure. a knitting book. due to the small-ish size of our library, knitting books, or any type of crafting book for that matter, rarely make an appearance on the shelves. needless to say, i was excited. then i read the title a bit more carefully. and i got even more excited. the book is entitled: "charmed knits: projects for fans of harry potter". seriously. i am so not even kidding. so stinkin' cool. obviously, i checked it out. oddly enough, it was written by the author of one of the knitting blogs i read regularly so i knew the patterns would be cool. i didn't bother to look inside...until i got home. then as i excitedly flipped pages, marking patterns i wanted to try, i stumbled upon it. a pumpkin hat. THE pumpkin hat. everything i had been looking for in a sweet, unique child's pumpkin hat was staring back at me from this silly little book.

i was ecstatic. ridiculously happy. more happy than i probably should have been. my hubby actually encouraged me to take my temperature. in a word, i was thrilled.

only one small problem. i was already halfway done with the other hat. no worries. i pulled the other hat out...totally intent on finishing the hat before halloween.

i had twenty-four hours.

needless to say...i was unable to meet my goal of finishing the hat in the remaining time period. not a problem, i decided. the hat can be in celebration of harvest...which continues through to thanksgiving, in my humble opinion. i had plenty of time to finish.

it's a good thing too, as the hat proved to be a bit more of a challenge than i originally thought. the pattern was easy enough, however, i typically knit/crochet listening to an audio book. my brain oftentimes wanders off and gets lost in the plot lines of the story. in this case, it was "the kite runner". a great read. i highly recommend. but maybe not the best knitting read. perhaps something a little more along the lines of chick-lit would have been a better choice. as i lost myself in the nuances of the story...my fingers also lost the rhythm of the pattern. several times.

i ended up knitting the hat three times. however. it is now finished. mistake free. and it is darn cute. and i could probably knit that hat in my sleep, i know the pattern so well. which i suppose is a good thing; i can make him another one next year.