Charity smoothie hat knit

Whilst feeding my Crafty Crafty habit I read about the Innocent Smoothie 'Big Knit 2008' and immediately spotted a way to make myself feel virtuous for almost no effort. Besides, the knitted bikini is finished, I've still got tons of £1-a-ball yarn left, it's raining and Brief Encounter is on the TV.

First try was this:
I'm really quite pleased with it, despite a couple of failings. I read the pattern wrong - instead of going left-to-right then right-to-left on alternate rows, I went right-to-left on all the rows, which is why the seeds aren't offset enough. Not disastrous, but stupid. Oh and some of the seed stitches are quite ugly, possibly because of the tension. I think the i-cord stalk is a success, and I like the technique, although it would be better on double-ended needles instead of transferring the stitches from the right needle to the left.

I liked the technique so much that I used it again for my 2nd try:
This has a lot less stretch, I think because of the colour change. And if you look carefully you can see where I started decreasing with k2tog and forgot to think about the colour changes, so the stripes stop spiralling upwards. Minor issue though.

And the third (this is my fave) in plain stocking stitch and embroidery:









My last go was a standard beanie, with stripes of moss stitch. It's like a miniature real-life beanie, and I think it would be really good pattern for a man's hat. Maybe not in red acrylic yarn.