sweatergirl - adventures in knitting

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Sweatergirl presents...

The Sunshine Hat!

OK, so the weather is a bit, well, fluxible this week, at least in the home of the Spartans. Not much I can do about that - but I did write up a pattern for y'all last night based on a hat I made for baby Abby O. I got a lot of postive comments at guild on Tuesday, but it IS quite a supportive and loving group!

This hat is slightly interesting because:
a) it's knit from the top down (people can watch you perform amazing feats with dpns), and
2) it's got a ruffle!

So, if you've never knit a ruffle, which I hadn't, here's a good excuse to try.

And that's why you neeeeed to start another project, no matter how many you've got going! Besides, it's small.

So without further ado, I present - the sunshine hat!

Pattern: The Sunshine Hat
Gauge: 18 stitches, 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette in the round. I used size 8 dpns to get this gauge. Row gauge not terribly important. Yarn used: Classic Elite Bazic (50g = 65 yds 4 st/in), color 2925: more than one ball, but a lot less than 2 (sorry!) - completed project weighs 2 ounces. I also used a bit of Plymouth Encore for embroidering flowers. Credit where credit is due: Thanks to Joan Schrouder's Fittin' Mittens pattern, I have made a lot of top-down mittens - this is an easier extension of the concept (hey, heads are round-ish, whereas hands - well, read her pattern). Also thanks to Pam Allen, who wrote a wonderful article in Interweave Knits, Summer 2002, in the Beyond the Basics column, titled Knitted Ruffles. Anyway - use the sunshine hat pattern, sell items made from it - I don't care. But, please don't directly copy it as your own! Link to it and give the sweatergirl some credit. Cast on 8 stitches on a double pointed needle, leaving a long tail for sewing. You could use a provisional cast-on here, but I didn't. Split the stitches onto 2 needles and join into a round. There will be a hole at the top - as you get a little further, or after you finish the hat, go back and thread the tail from your cast-on through the stitches and gather them. Round 1: Increase in every stitch by knitting into the front and the back of each stitch. (Stitch count = 16) Round 2: Knit one stitch, increase in one stitch. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 24) Round 3: Knit two stitches, increase in one stitch. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 32) Notice a pattern? Good! Because that saves me a lot of typing. OK - so keep going until you have 72 stitches - this should be after Round 8. Here endeth the increasing - for now. Just knit around without increasing until the hat measures 6 inches from the cast-on row. Now for the fun and ruffly part. Pam Allen calls this a "Flared/Symmetrical Gore". We're going to start the numbering all over agin from this point, so: Round 1: Increase (by knitting in the front and back of a stitch) in two stitches, knit 2 stitches. Repeat around. You are making 6 stitches out of 4 stitches, so you should now have 108 stitches. Round 2: Knit 1, increase in two stitches, knit 3. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 144) Round 3: Knit 2, increase in two stitches, knit 4. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 180) Round 4: Just when you're thinking, "Boy, this could fit around ME!", just knit around - whew! Now bind off loosely, slip it on a kid, and feel warm and fuzzy all day long.

Pattern: The Sunshine Hat

Gauge: 18 stitches, 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette in the round. I used size 8 dpns to get this gauge. Row gauge not terribly important.
Yarn used: Classic Elite Bazic (50g = 65 yds 4 st/in), color 2925: more than one ball, but a lot less than 2 (sorry!) - completed project weighs 2 ounces. I also used a bit of Plymouth Encore for embroidering flowers.
Credit where credit is due: Thanks to Joan Schrouder's Fittin' Mittens pattern, I have made a lot of top-down mittens - this is an easier extension of the concept (hey, heads are round-ish, whereas hands - well, read her pattern). Also thanks to Pam Allen, who wrote a wonderful article in Interweave Knits, Summer 2002, in the Beyond the Basics column, titled Knitted Ruffles. Anyway - use the sunshine hat pattern, sell items made from it - I don't care. But, please don't directly copy it as your own! Link to it and give the sweatergirl some credit.

Cast on 8 stitches on a double pointed needle, leaving a long tail for sewing. You could use a provisional cast-on here, but I didn't.
Split the stitches onto 2 needles and join into a round. There will be a hole at the top - as you get a little further, or after you finish the hat, go back and thread the tail from your cast-on through the stitches and gather them.

Round 1: Increase in every stitch by knitting into the front and the back of each stitch. (Stitch count = 16)
Round 2: *Knit one stitch, increase in one stitch*. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 24)
Round 3: *Knit two stitches, increase in one stitch*. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 32)
Notice a pattern? Good! Because that saves me a lot of typing. OK - so keep going until you have 72 stitches - this should be after Round 8.

Here endeth the increasing - for now. Just knit around without increasing until the hat measures 6 inches from the cast-on row. Now for the fun and ruffly part. Pam Allen calls this a "Flared/Symmetrical Gore". We're going to start the numbering all over agin from this point, so:
Round 1: *Increase (by knitting in the front and back of a stitch) in two stitches, knit 2 stitches*. Repeat around. You are making 6 stitches out of 4 stitches, so you should now have 108 stitches.
Round 2: *Knit 1, increase in two stitches, knit 3*. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 144)
Round 3: *Knit 2, increase in two stitches, knit 4*. Repeat around. (Stitch count = 180)
Round 4: Just when you're thinking, "Boy, this could fit around ME!", just knit around - whew!

Now bind off loosely, slip it on a kid, and feel warm and fuzzy all day long.

- posted by tracy_a @ 2:44 PM

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