Part of a baby gift package.
Something for the dad.

Ahem.
There’s 90 g quality yarn inside an official MLB baseball.
Enough to make a cap!
A baseball cap!
Pun intended.
Pretty darn cool.

No way can I get 20 st / 4” with US 7 needles.
Can’t imagine using smaller needles, either.
I worked a slightly looser gauge and it was still plenty dense.

Cast on 80, US 7, 4 ply yarn.
Worked ribbing, 12 rows, then st st, 16 more rows, until 4 ply was used up.
Changed to US 8 needles for 3 ply yarns.
Worked two colors 23 more rows in my own pattern.
Worked decreases: (dec, 2 r even) 3x.
Cinched up remaining stitches.

A couple fellow ravelers have said to wash the yarn before working it because it is somewhat sticky.
Needs to be softened a bit in order to wear, anyway.

Washed the yarn, regular laundry soap, regular fabric softener. Very warm water.

If I make this again, I’ll use US 8 and US 9 needles.
Will adjust CO to that gauge.

from Chemical and Engineering News, 1999
Today, instructions to the manufacturer call for the cork nucleus of prescribed weight (0.5 oz) and diameter (2.86 to 2.94 inches) to be encased in two thin rubber layers--one black, one red--weighing a total of 7/8 oz.

The pill, as it is called, is machine wound under high, consistent tension with 121 yards of four ply blue/gray wool yarn, 45 yards of three ply white wool yarn, 53 more yards of three ply wool yarn, this time blue/gray in color to denote the stage of manufacture, according to Rawlings,
and 150 yards of fine white polyester/cotton blend yarn. This center is coated with rubber cement before the cover is put on.

The cover, two pieces of elongated figure eight shaped white cowhide, is dampened to permit stretching and hand-stitched together with exactly 216 raised stitches, using 88 inches of red cotton thread. The last step in the process is rolling the balls for 15 seconds while still slightly damp so the seams are even and reasonably flat.