I wrote this pattern back in early 2004, I believe. I came across my print-out the other day in my sewing room and figured I'd add it back up here. It used to be on my now-deleted old blog. I found the hat too and have taken a fresh picture of it (so pardon the pills on it, please; it's been worn a lot) since the original pictures went the way of the blog.

Cabled Baby Hat

I created this hat after hunting all over for an ear-flap baby hat that I actually liked. I didn't find one but took inspiration from several patterns and came up with this, though it turns out that I like it better without the flaps. I didn't have an actual baby to try it on but it should fit the average 14- to 15-inch head snugly. If you do make it, please let me know hot it turned out, what age it fits, and if there's anything that needs to be fixed or tweaked.

I knit this using a single ball of Pingouin Star+ from the clearance bin at one of my LYS's. At $1.99CAD a ball, this was a fairly cheap hat. And the yarn is very nice upon washing - soft and springy. Pingouin Star+ is a 50/50 wool/acrylic blend, 93yds/50g, worsted-weight yarn. I literally used every last inch of this one ball.

The abbreviations are standard and include:
M1 - place the horizontal bar (between the stich just worked and the next stitch) onto the left-hand needle and knit into the back of it.
C8B - place the next 4 stitches on a cable needle and hold to the back of the work. Knit the next 4 stitches and then work the stitches from the cable needle.
C8F - place the next 4 stitches on a cable needle and hold to the front of the work. Knit the next 4 stitches and then work the stitches from the cable needle.
K2tog - knit two stitches together as one
K3tog - knit three stitches together as one

Needles used: 3mm circular (optional), 3.25mm double-pointed, 3.75mm circular or double-pointed, 4.5mm.

Gauge: approximately 4.5 sts per inch over stockinette on 3.75mm needles. The cable panel is approx. 3.5" wide.
NOTE: I didn't bother to check the gauge before I blocked the hat as I didn't think I'd be writing this up as a pattern.

Note: I used a lifted increase to M1 on the earflaps. When working the instructions as M1,Kx,M1 - use the right needle tip to lift the stitch below the stitch on the left hand needle and knit into this without twisting. Knit X (number of) stitches according to the pattern and M1 again, this time placed the left hand needle into the stitch below the stitch just knitted and knit into it. A diagram can be seen here at the knitting.co.nz site.

 

Ear flap (optional):
With 3.25mm double-pointed needles, cast on 3 stitches and work I-cord for 10 inches or desired length of ties.
Turn work and change to 3.75mm needles.

Row 1 (and every alternate row): purl
Row 2: K1, M1, K1, M1, K1
Row 4: K1 M1, K3, M1, K1
Row 6: K1, M1, K5, M1, K1

Continue increasing on every other row as established until there are 15 stitches on the needles. Purl one row.
Cut yarn leaving a generous tail and place stitches on a holder. Work second flap in the same way.

Cable Panel:
With 4.5mm needles, work a provisional cast on and work in cable pattern as follows (worked over 21 stitches):

Row 1 (right side): K2, P1, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 2 (and every alternate row): P1, K1, P to last three stitches, K1, P2
Row 3: K2, P1, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 5: K2, P1, [C8B] 2x, P1, K1
Row 7: K2, P1, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 9: as row 7
Row 11: K2, P1, K4, C8F, K4, P1, K1
Row 12: as row 2

Continue in cable pattern to approx. 14", ending with Row 12 of pattern. Undo provisional cast on and either graft the stitches or work a three-needle bind-off.

Top of Hat:
With 3.75mm needles (double-points or circular), pick up 68 stitches around the [K2, P1] edge. (I found that picking up 4 stitches for every 5 rows worked for me.) Place marker.
Knit one round, increasing 4 stitches evenly around (72 stitches).
Knit for approximately 1.25" in stockinette stitch. The hat from the bottom edge should measure roughly 4.25" to 4.5".

Work decreases as follows:
Rnd 1: [K6, K2tog] around
Rnd 2: knit
Rnd 3: [K5, K2tog] around
Rnd 4: knit
Rnd 5: [K4, K2tog] around
Rnd 6: [K3, K2tog] around
Rnd 7: [K2, K2tog] around
Rnd 8: [K1, K2tog] around
K2tog around to 4 stitches on needle.

Place 4 stitches on 3.25mm double-point and turn so yarn tail is at the left hand side. K1, K2tog, K1. Work I-cord on these 3 stitches for 3" or until desired length. K3tog. Cut yarn and fasten off. Tie I-cord tail in a knot.

Bottom hat edging:
With an approximately 56" long tail of yarn and 3mm circular needle (or whichever size you want; I used a smaller one to keep the picked up stitches snug), pick up stitches around the bottom edge of the hat using the yarn tail, not the end coming from the ball). I picked up 6 stitches for every 7 rows but do whatever works best for you; there is no set number of stitches to pick up. Cast on 3 (or 4, if you wish) stitches by backward loops.

Change to 3.25mm needles and work applied I-cord around. Alternately, you can skip the backward loop cast on step and cast those stitches on separately as in the applied I-cord link.

Finishing:
Graft I-cord ends togetherand darn in all yarn ends.
Lightly block all pieces.
Graft ear flaps to I-cord edging.

You're done! Let me know how it went. I'd love to see a picture. 

 

 

Re-uploaded February 8, 2009



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