Snowflake toddler hat

I've kept my word and started concentrating on Christmas gifts. First, I tackled a new hat for my little man. It's been a while since he's been outfitted with some hand-knits, so he was first on my list.

I've been meaning to try a color-work project ever since, in the spring, I took a course at my local yarn shop "Espace Tricot" (see more about that adventure here). I came across the Snowflake pattern on Ravelry and it immediately caught my attention. It's just the right combination of cute and traditional. I find there's not an abundance of cute patterns for little boys out there, so I was very excited to find something I liked.

I used leftover yarn from my Levenwick project, and thought a nice, contrasting orange would look nice for the color-work. Mirasol had the perfect shade of burnt orange. I've never worked with this yarn before, and can I just say it's.....oh sooooo soft! Holding two strands of yarn proved to be somewhat challenging, I still haven't found my own way of doing it, but I only had 15 rows of the snowflake pattern, so it was manageable.

I should not have blocked it lying flat, because now the earflaps are creased, but I could not find a bowl or a ball of the right size....and because I chose to make it bigger, it sort of needs a chinstrap to stay put, but all in all I'm pretty happy with how it looks.

I ended up bribing my already hyper 4-year old with chocolate to model the hat for me, but it worked. Does that make me a horrible parent? 

I really like this picture of him, he's got the most devilish grin, does he not?

I've already moved on to my next Christmas gift, it's another hat, this one, for my sis.