A Working Hat

After spending the fall so far in cooler, northern climates I feel like summer's returned!  I'm back in Arizona and so enjoying the warm weather, fruit ripening, my garden, the flowers, and the lemons, figs, and clementines.

And catching up with the kittens (though you can hardly call them that anymore!) that were born in our attic last spring.  They've made the transition to being house cats wonderfully - can you tell by how they love to lounge on beds?

Since I'm enjoying my second chance at summer, it might seem strange that I knitted myself a hat!  Well ... after knitting several hats for baby Henry and for a friend's baby that's due soon, I got to thinking how nice it would be to have a bigger version of the baby hat for me.  I have lots of hats - lots of pretty hats.  And when I'm up on the farm working out in the cold, I either don't wear a hat because they're too nice or I wear one meant for guys, which keeps falling down over my eyes.  Very annoying!  My Working Hat turned out to be just what I wanted - warm and fit perfectly ... and I think it still looks nice!

Materials:
*1 skein worsted weight yarn (you won't use it all) - I used Lion Brand's Wool-Ease in Denim Twist
*16-inch size 6 circular knitting needle
*4 size 6 double pointed needles
*tapestry needle

1.  Because I didn't want this hat to be so loose that it fell over my eyes, I made it to fit.  Measure snuggly around your forehead just above the eyebrows.  Subtract one inch.  Now multiply this number by 5.  My measurement was 22 inches.  I subtracted 1, which gave me 21 and multiplied 21 by 5 getting 105.  Because of the type of ribbing I used, I needed this number to be divisible by 3 - no problem, it is!  So I cast on 105 stitches.  If you end up with a number that is not divisible by 3, add either 1 or 2 stitches so that it is.

2.  For the first 12 rows, I used a k2,p1 ribbing stitch.

3.  After the ribbing, I knitted until the entire hat measured 6 1/2 inches from the cast on row.  I have a pretty small head (I can usually wear kid's hats) so you may want to add onto this.

4.  Once I reached 6 1/2 inches, I knitted 1/3 of the stitches onto a double pointed needle, then knitted another third onto a second double pointed needle, and finally knitted the last third onto a third double pointed needle.  

5.  For the next row I k2tog across.  Depending on the number of stitches you have, you may end up with an extra stitch on the first needle - I just transferred that to the next needle and continued on.  If at the end of the third needle you still have an extra stitch, just knit that.

6.  The following row, knit around.

7.  Repeat rows 5 and 6 until you have 7 or 8 stitches on your needles.

8.  Cut the yarn, leaving a tail and thread onto a tapestry needle.  Run the needle through the remaining stitches and remove the needles.  Pull the tail tight and sew a couple of stitches on top of the hat to secure it.  Work in the rest of the tail and the cast on tail.

Happy Creating!  Deborah