Spiral Top Little Man Hat

Thursday, January 5, 2012

I taught myself to knit my junior year of college following along a little starter kit from Walmart when I wanted to to add some fiber art to my resume.  Which of course never really ever took shape other than the idea sitting in my mind. For years I have started little projects here and there, my husband always joking that I have never actually finished anything.  I should have figured out a long time ago that scarves take a long time to knit!  So, as this winter season approached I decided I must accomplish a smaller goal and that would be to start knitting hats, shorter timeframe to make and also consistent with my skill level.  I wasn't sure I was going to find the look I wanted by searching the internet so I decided to just wing it a bit and after picking some fun colors of alpaca (I drove a ways to find a nice yarn shop: Out of the Loop), and would write the pattern out as I went.

So, the big thing about this and really all knitting projects I fail at is the counting! I just have way to much raging through my mind and I without fail loose count. Because I've been knitting for awhile I can kind of use visual clues but the easiest way to make this hat is really just keep a measuring tape near by and just knit until the measurement is what you want. It makes the knitting process so much more fun if you do the least amount of counting possible.

For my little man's hat it was important to measure from the bottom of his ear (I wanted the hat to cover them) to the part of his head right before it starts to round in. For him that was 5" he has a rather large head. If you'd like to try this pattern make sure to take that measurement. It will make your hat fit just right.

Supplies:
#5, 3.75mm circular needles (I use the bamboo ones)
A set of double sided needles the same size
Knitting/tapestry needle
Measuring tape/ruler
I changed colors so I need three balls of yarn but you can easily make this hat with one color and one ball of yarn. I used alpaca because it was so soft and warm

Get it Started:
 Cast on 100 stitches *(this may vary as well. This hat fits my little man who is almost four years old, but the diameter would also fit my husband, it's pretty universal. So, if you know for sure your recipient has a super tiny or uber large head just add or decrease your cast, but try and make sure that it is divisible by 4 that will be important later when thou are rounding off).

Here We Go:
 *Remember you are knitting in the round so make sure that your casts are not twisted and begin with your first knit in the stitch with the knot

 Ribbing 
Beginning with the color you want the majority of the hat to be

Rows 1-12 (or until the ribbing measures 1.5"): K1, P1 and repeat

Hat Body 

Rows 13-28
Continuing with the same color
 K in the round for the next 16 rows or until it measures 2"

Rows 29,30
Change to your second color (in this case I used green)
K in the round for the next two rows

Rows 31,32
Change to your third color (orange)
K in the round for two rows

Rows 33,34
Change to your original color (blue)
K in the round for two rows

Rows 35-40 Repeat the last six rows
 Total of twelve rows

You are going for this striped look:

Rows 41-50
Continue with your original color for 10 rows about 1.5" or until your hat measures the length you measured from the ear. In my case a total of 5" from the bottom of the folded ribbing to the beginning of where I'd round off the top of the hat.

The Spiral Top:
Continuing with the same color
 *at some point it will become to hard for you to continue on your circular needles at which time you will knit with your double sided needles to make your life much easier

 Row 51
(K2together, K23)and repeat another three times until you are at your starting point

 Row 52 (K2together, K22)and repeat in the same manner as above

 Row 53 (K2together, K21) repeat x3 total 4 and you continue for approx.the next 15 rows decreasing your number of knit stitches until you have eight stitches left.

At which time you use your tapestry needle to finish Now you just take care of your strings and your done!

 *to help your ribbing stay in place you could stitch it or take out your best friend the iron and show it whose boss(follow your yarns instructions you may need to cover with a towel)

 *this looks like a lot but it's really fun and easy once you get your rhythm so stay with it and cover your entire families' heads!

*On a side note I think this hat needs a Pom Pom! I will link up to that post once I add it!

Let me know if you need help or get stuck!