Baby Stocking Caps

While visiting Texas for Christmas my friend, who works in the NICU, asked me if I'd crochet some striped stocking caps for the babies they had as a surprise for the parents for Christmas.  I'd never crocheted hats but looked up a couple of patterns, combined them for simplicity and got to work.  They were FAR from perfect but they weren't actually wearing them anywhere except for a picture.  They were so tiny that they were pretty quick once I got the hang of it.  My mom and I crocheted one afternoon and whipped up 11 of them.  My nieces made the braids and pom-poms.  I used Simply Soft yarn by Caron (my new fav) and don't think I'll go back.  It's SO soft and stays soft.  My mom crocheted my son a baby blanket out of it and, five years later, yep...still soft.  My Michael's doesn't carry it but Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's and Wal-Mart do.

Don't ask me what pattern I used.  Like I said, I tried two different ones and kind of ended up doing my own thing in the end.  The ones I tried never would have tapered like this or fit a preemie.