Coming up Short

My knitting for Outfit 1 is done, so I'm squeezing in a couple of wee hats for two new baby girls before starting Outfit 2. This little bit of rose pink is an Aviatrix hat, a free pattern by Justin Turner of Just Jussi. I think I may be the last person on Ravelry to knit an Aviatrix - there are thousands of projects for this hat and, after finishing one, I can see why. It looks so cute on a tiny head! I am a huge fan of baby bonnets and helmets at the best of times and my four lucky babies had a never-ending supply thanks to my Mum who is also a huge fan :) But, we never had an Aviatrix, because neither of us came across this pattern in time (I'll have to remember it for my grandchildren!).

The pattern is knit flat and begins with the ribbing around the face. It's then shaped with a series of short row wedges and lastly you knit the longer ribbing for the back of the neck. Stitches are picked up along each side to form the earflaps and strap. It's quick, flexible and did I mention ever so cute?

I decided to try some new short rows for the wedges which I found here. They're invented by Socktopus who named them "shadow wraps". In her instructions they look super neat. Disappointingly, mine don't. Well, they do, but only on one side. See the top photo? Terrible. I thought the wee holes would block out, but they didn't. The next two photos are the other side and it's much better.

So my question to you all is - what is your favourite method for short rows? For the second hat I thought I'd try to improve. There's a fabulous free Craftsy tutorial on short rows by Carol Feller which I watched ages ago but I can't remember all the methods and I haven't had time to sit and watch it again. So, I'm counting on you guys to give me a new method to try!

You can find my project notes on Ravelry here, but briefly; 

• The pattern calls for sport (five ply), DK or worsted weight yarn. I used Rowan Pure Wool 4ply (heavy fingering) with 3mm & 3.25mm needles and knit the 3 month size. It fits a biggish seven week old baby;
• I picked up my stitches for the earflaps on the right side and then knit an extra row before continuing with the pattern as written. It's much neater that way (for me anyway);
• After trying this hat on one of the babies I'm knitting for, I'm going to do an extra wedge in the next hat because I think it'll fit slightly more snuggly;
• I didn't knit the strap quite as long as suggested in the pattern and I think a lovely variation would be two long straps tied in a bow to one side of the chin rather than a single strap and a button.

Finally, I knit this on some straight needles. I just felt like it. But, after using circulars for so long I have obviously adopted some odd habits, like dropping my left needle at the end of the row... it just plummeted to the floor time and time again! 

Don't forget to tell me about your favourite short rows... this hat is getting a button and then I have to get cracking with the next one :)