Lightweight, Stylish and Simple Winter Hats — Knit in the Round

Andy and I went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in October 2006, and one of the two yarns that I bought was a fantastic light brown baby alpaca from the very nice men from A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca Co./Red Maple Sportswear Co.   They usually don’t sell yarn, just finished products, but for the Festival, they brought down an expanded range of products.   I feel very lucky that Andy pointed out this fiber and wanted me to use it to make his hat.

After making Andy’s hat, I ended up making another hat for myself because Andy’s was so soft, lightweight and stylish.   I will probably make another hat for myself because my original hat was stolen only a week after I finished it.   So there are two variations of the pattern you will find below — one for men and one for women.   The woman’s hat details are in the ( ). 

AND, using this pattern is a great way to learn how crochet — I used books and the internet to teach myself how to crochet to make the border of the hat.

Men’s Hat:

Women’s Hat:

The men’s finished measurements after blocking are:  9.75 inches wide by 8.75 inches tall

The women’s finished measurements after blocking are: 9 inches wide by 7.5 inches tall

Needles:  5 size 5 dpns, 1 size D-3 crochet hook

Yarn:  DK Weight Alpaca, unfortunately yards needed is unknown.

Gauge:  5.5 inches/stitch

Pattern:

• Cast on 107 (100) stitches using a contrast yarn and provisional cast-on
• Divide stitches on 4 dpns, and connect the first and last stitches to create a round
• Knit 5.5 (4) inches in stockinette stitch (which would be all knit rows because this hat is knit in the round).
• Start top shaping by k2tog every 10 stitches.
• Knit the next row straight with no decreases.
• Then k2t0g every 9 stitches followed by a straight row. 
• Continue this pattern repeat until every stitch in the row is a k2tog.
• Then cut yarn with 4 inches remaining, pull the yarn through the remaining stitches, and sew the end in.
• Then go back to the bottom of the hat to work the hat border.
• Remove the provisional cast on, and put the stitches back onto the 4 dpns.
• From there, work a single crochet across each of the stitches for 4 (5) rows or until the hat edge lays flat or until you have your desired border.

I have to also put out a big thank you to Nancie Wiseman and her book The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques because without it, I would not have had the idea to use a single crochet border to get the stockinette edging to lay flat.  And in general, if you don’t have this book, you must pick it up — it’s save you a lot of time on your knitting projects!