Owl and the Pussy Cat baby hat

I'd like to thank the two additional people who have answered my survey.  :)  I really am grateful, and I will no longer beg.  In case anyone else would like to weigh in, you can find it here.

In the unlikely event that you're the wife of my husband's coworker who had a baby in November, please read no further.  The gift is at the office and will be sent home when your husband comes back to work.

For everyone else, I'll now show you the hat I made for the aforementioned baby.  It's the Owl and The Pussy Cat Hat that I found on Ravelry.  Apart from having cats on it, I really liked the way the owls were made using cables.  I hadn't done cables before, so in keeping with my tradition of trying something new on a gift project, I thought this hat was perfect.

Cables weren't as hard to understand as I thought they would be.  They were a little tricky to do because not only did I have my medieval torture device (Double Pointed Needles), but I also had an extra needle hanging there holding stitches.  At one point I cried out, "Can ANY more needles be poking me right now?"  Steve looked around, and I said, "They're ALL in use!  ALL OF THEM!"  He then poked me with a pencil.

Here's the hat after all the actual knitting was done:

It's really clever how the owls show up just by using cables.

There were two options for the top of the hat - knitting a cord and tying it in a knot, or stopping when there were four stitches left.  I did the latter, and it made an odd little point in the hat.  I wasn't very happy with that, so Steve suggested I make a pom pom.

There are many different pom pom instructions out there.  Many use cardboard circles or squares, but I found a few that don't require any props.  I like techniques that don't require me to go looking for or crafting something new.  Besides, it was cold in the house, and I didn't want to get out of my warm cocoon.  So, following these directions, I wrapped yarn around my fingers, and I got a very cute pom pom:

I sewed it on the top of the hat, and it was a perfect solution to the pointy problem.  I made eyes on the owls using French knots (if you'd like to see French knots closer up on a scrapbook page I made, click here), and I stitched the cats on using duplicate stitch.  I am not going to rant about duplicate stitch right now.  Suffice it to say that I know I'm doing it right, but the background color is still showing through.  That's frustrating.

Here's the final hat:

It's so cute!

If you're interested in seeing more about the pattern, it's here.  It costs $3.50, and it's well worth it.  The instructions are very clear, not to mention nicely formatted and even pretty.  She includes the poem "The Owl and the Pussy Cat", which I printed, cut out, and tucked inside the hat.

Now I need to go back to making my grown-up looking hat.  Have a good, safe, and warm Saturday!