So mostly what I am working on now is finishing up Christmas gifts, and one that isn't a Christmas gift, but said I'd get it done "soon." That' project is a hat for a friend. I'm what is called a confident beginner / intermediate knitter. I did finish my first intermediate lace project that took a lot of focus. Hats on the other hand are relatively quick and easy. Follow me below the orange squiggle for some basic patterns and some easy adaptations.
I have two unfinished Christmas gifts, one of which is done now. That was a pair of house socks for my brother to go with a pair of slippers.
The second is a folk art quilted pillow top for a niece that isn't quite done yet.
But this diary is about knitting hats. I knitted my first hat for my sister for Christmas.
This is a pic of it mostly done, just before I went to double pointed needles.
This hat is a variation of the Three Sisters pattern on Ravelry here by Janet Gallagher.
The main difference in what I knit and the original pattern is the pattern called for 12 rows of knitting at the lower edge. I did about 1.5" of k2, p2 ribbing instead. My sister was concerned that her ears be covered, so I used the ribbing instead to give her more warmth over her ears. Second change, instead of going directly into the lace pattern, I set off the lace panel with a purl row just below the lace panel and a purl row just above it. I also added one more lace row with a lace opening right at the point of the "mountains". I just liked the look better.
As per the pattern I used sport weight yarn and size 7 needles. The ribbing also gave the hat a little more length which my sister wanted.
The second hat I'm knitting is for a girl friend. I'm doing an inset color with a lace pattern called leaves from Karenne at Coffeeboardromance here. My friend wanted the hat mostly in brown with the green band. See below.
Since the lace pattern isn't showing up too well, I'm going to try knitting a white band behind the green. That's why there are the knitting markers clipped in. The leaves pattern is a 17 stitch repeat, so I know how many stitches to pick up between each marker.
So what is a basic pattern for a hat?
This is mostly from the Janet's pattern. You can google knitted hat patterns for many more. For this pattern, use sport weight yarn and a size 7, 16" circular needle. Cast on 75 - 85 stitches for medium hat. Actually for most adult heads this will work fine. (Janet's pattern calls for 84 stitches.) Join in the round, making sure not to twist the stitches. Knit in whatever pattern you choose for 6" - 7" depending on how tall you want the hat. My sister wanted to be sure her ears were covered and most hats aren't long enough for her, so I knitted it 7". You can add a lace panel or not; you can add textural elements like seed stitch, or just knit in the round. That works.
After you have knit the height/length you want, you begin the decrease, but first, for the decrease to work exactly right you need to have 80 stitches (again for this pattern). This isn't a big deal. If you have cast on 84, decrease 4 stitches evenly around the hat. For the leaf pattern, I had to have 85 stitches, so I decreased 5 stitches. If you have cast on 75 or 78, take it up to 80 stitches. Then knit a row. The decrease pattern is as follows: Knit 8 (K8), knit 2 together (K2tog) all round the hat. Then knit a row. Then k7, k2tog all around, then knit a row. Keep decreasing the stitch count before the k2tog by one on every decrease row. So next would be K6, k2tog all around; knit a row. K5, k2tog, all around, then knit a row, etc.
At about the K4, k2tog, you'll have to switch to double pointed size 7 needles as the circle will be too small to work with the 16" circular needles.
Continue to reduce the knit before the K2tog until you get to to k1, K2tog all around, then knit a row. Then k2tog all around. Knit a row and then cut the yarn, leaving a 5" - 6" tail. Using a blunt needle with a wide eye, thread the tail through the remaining stitches, pulling them off, and then pull the stitches together firmly. Weave the tail through the top stitches a few times and cut the thread.
You can block the hat if you want. I didn't and it doesn't seem to matter.
This pattern uses only 100 yards of yarn, so you can even use your expensive yarns for this. Or since these work up pretty quickly they can be charity projects. Who wouldn't want a warm hand knit hat?
So What Are You Working On?