Hats

One day, years ago, I had to come up with a project to keep several small girls amused and busy for one summer afternoon. They ended up making papier mache heads using newspaper, flour paste, and balloons as the base. The surviving head was drafted into action this morning to serve as a model for the hat I finished today using the pattern I found online:

http://www.needlebeetle.com/free/seacap.htm

I really like this pattern and enjoyed knitting the hat. It comes in several sizes, and this is the size Large, which fits me a little loosely so should be a good size for a man.


The above hat was knit by hand, but I have invented a pattern for a double-layer hat that I knit mostly on the machine. It is very thick and warm and pretty easy to make:

Machine Knit Hat with Hand Knit Decreases

I used knitting worsted weight yarn leftovers for these hats, probably about 4-5 ozs.

My gauge was 4 1/2 sts//6 3/4 rows

Cast on 88 sts with an open cast on (my Elna bulky machine does a cast on with a yarn through it that is easy to remove for picking up the stitches later) or use waste yarn.

Work even in stockinette st for 20 inches. Take sts off the machine onto a size 7 or 8 knitting needle.

You will be knitting a decease section at the top and at the bottom of the knitted piece.

Row 1: K6, K2tog across row
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: K5, K2tog across row
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K4, K2tog across row
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K3, K2tog across row
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: K2, K2 tog across row
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: K1, K2 tog across row
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: K2 tog across row, cut yarn leaving long tail.
Row 14: Thread yarn onto needle and draw through stitches pulling tight and fasten off.

Repeat this on the other end. I usually stagger the decreases a little to make seaming easier in this manner: on row 1, I knit K5, K2tog, then K6, k2tog across the row, ending with a K1, and continue in this manner on subsequent decrease rows. This is because I usually seam with a mattress stitch, but it will depend on how you do the seam.

After the decrease section is done on both ends, seam the whole thing up the side, then tuck one end up into the other to form the hat. I usually do a backstitch through both layers around the drawn-up stitches to hook the two sides together. Turn up the brim about 2 1/2 inches and the hat is ready.