My toddler granddaughter is in love with kittens so I wanted to knit the DMC Top This hat with the kitten topper.  This photo shows it almost finished.

As you can tell, I still need to weave in the ends and secure the kitten topper to the top of the hat.  I don’t care for the rubber stopper that comes with the kit to stabilize the stuffed topper.  As I did with the Bunny Lovey that I knit when she was younger, I’ll be knitting a small square to hide the ends of the ribbon on the topper and stabilize it.  Here’s the lovey

And here’s the underside with the knit piece I used to stabilize the stuffed bunny.

The pattern that comes with this kit is not written well.  The sizing is way off and  I ended up using a different hat pattern.  The pattern that is on the ball band and the other sizes on the DMC website do not knit to size.  I knit the Toddler size from the website first.  It came out so small that it would barely fit a newborn.  So I had to rip out the entire hat and start over.  I checked the project pages on Ravelry and found that many people mentioned the same problem.

One of the big problems with the hat pattern that is provided is that the gauge is listed as 24 rows equal 4 inches.  This is a worsted weight yarn, knit on a Size 9 needle so the actual gauge is closer to 14 rows equals 4 inches.  So when the pattern calls for a total of 25 rows before the decreases, you’ll end up with a hat that is only 4 inches high.  Certainly not long enough for a Toddler.  Most Toddler hats are at least 7 inches high.  To complicate it further, the decrease rounds don’t have any rows between them so the top decrease in a very short length.

The hat pattern from the Knit Bow Baby Hat that I had already knit for her knit up to the correct size.  Now I have a hat that will fit her.  Of course, she may have more fun playing with the kitten than wearing the hat.