Another Finished Object and Free Pattern: Menschkin Child's Hat

Yesterday, with DD still recovering from her cold, I had several hours to knit, so I made this:

[Added 11/29/07: DD has been wearing this hat for her hour-long outdoor playtime at school for a week now, with temperatures around freezing, and she has willingly kept it on and been warm enough. Success!]



Free Pattern: Menschkin Child's Hat

Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino in colorway 108 (a worsted weight yarn), held double. I used almost all of 2 hanks.
Needles: I used US size 9 needles (5.5 mm) for the hat and size 7 (4.5 mm) for the earflaps. You'll also need a darning or tapestry needle and a small crochet hook.
Gauge: My gauge was 4.25 st/in in stockinette with doubled yarn. For the earflaps, it was 5.5 st/in in garter stitch with a single thickness of yarn.
Size: The hat fits my daughter's head (20-inch circumference) with just a little growing room.

I usually prefer to knit in the round, but I haven't found my set of KnitPicks Options double-point metal needles since my move, so I used some Takumi bamboo straight needles and worked back and forth.

CO = cast on (I used long tail cast on, nice and loose)
P2tog = purl two stitches together
SSK = slip one stitch, then another, as if to knit. Put the left needle back through the front of both stitches and knit them together from this position. Or use whatever decrease makes you happy and tell me about the results!

Main part of hat:
Holding two thicknesses of yarn together and using the larger needles, loosely CO 90 stitches. Work back and forth in K2, P2 rib for 2.25 inches (right side rows *K2, P2, repeat from * to end; wrong side rows *P2, K2, repeat from * to end). Then work stockinette stitch until hat measures about 5.5 inches from the bottom edge. (If I had it to do over, I would have made it 1-2 inches deeper, or even 3 inches to allow a good turned-up cuff -- but with deeper ribbing in that case. The earflaps were added because the hat didn't cover DD's ears! I might also have decreased by dividing the stitches by 7 instead of 8, so the ridges at the decreases would lie flatter to the head.)

Decrease as follows, starting with a right-side row:
Row 1: *K9, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 2: Purl all stitches.
Row 3: *K8, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: *K7, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: *K6, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 8: P2, *P2tog, P5, repeat from * to end of row.
Row 9: *K4, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 10: P2, *P2tog, P3, repeat from * to end of row.
Row 11: *K2, SSK, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2.
Row 12: P2, *P2tog, P1, repeat from * to end of row.
Row 13: *K2tog, repeat from * to end of row.

Using a tapestry or darning needle, run one thickness of yarn tail through all remaining stitches twice. Tie to other thickness of yarn tail. Use one thickness to stitch back seam with mattress stitch. Weave in ends. I attached a tassel to the top; use whatever pompon, tassel, or loop for hanging the hat on a hook that makes you happy.

Earflaps:
With a single thickness of your hat yarn and size 7 needles (or two sizes smaller than whatever you used for the hat), CO 3 stitches, leaving at least an 8-inch yarn tail. On each row, knit through the front and back of the first stitch and then knit to the end, until you have 20 stitches. Then knit all stitches (garter stitch) until you have 14 garter ridges (28 rows) from the beginning. Do not cast off. Pin earflap in place with hat on head (to stretch ribbing to size) and sew live stitches to the inside of the ribbing with a whipstitch, about 1/2 inch above bottom of ribbing. Secure end and weave in. Leave the cast-on yarn tail hanging. Repeat for other earflap.

Ties: (Please note: this hat was made for a 3.5-year-old child who knows how to handle ties without strangling. If I were making the hat for a younger or less careful child, I would have extended the earflaps on 7 stitches or so and used a velcro closure under the chin, or -- more likely -- just made the hat deeper before the decreases, and omitted the earflaps and ties.)

I used a different yarn for the ties: I happened to have Mission Falls 1824 Cotton on hand in colors 203 and 404, which just about exactly match the Artyarns colors. I figured the cotton would be less itchy for an under-the-chin tie, so I used it as follows: Cut six lengths of yarn for the ties, each about 16 inches. Group them into two groups of three in a way that pleases you (I used two magenta and one blue for one tie, and two blue and one magenta for the other). Take the three yarn lengths for the first tie. Using a crochet hook, pull an end of one yarn length through each of the 3 stitches at the bottom of one earflap, from outside to inside of the earflap. Pull each yarn length through an entire CO stitch (i.e., at least two thicknesses of yarn, not just one) for sturdiness. Then take the pulled-through ends on the inside and knot them all together (tie a single overhand knot with all three held together). Pull the knot snug against the inside of the earflap, and then braid the 3 yarn lengths. Knot the ends together. Use the yarn tail from casting on the earflap to secure the knot inside the earflap in a non-irritating position (like straight up on the inside) and then weave in the rest of the yarn tail. Repeat for second tie and earflap.

Voila! If you knit a hat based on this pattern, please send (or link in comments to) a picture!

If you wish to pass this pattern on to others, feel free, but please include the entire text from the title to the end of this paragraph. Pattern by Deborah Mensch, published at http://knitmensch.blogspot.com