THE McCORD WELCOME HAT
Please feel free to use and share this pattern if you are knitting hats to give away to the homeless, refugees, or anyone else who might need help to stay warm. Please DO NOT use this pattern to knit hats that will be sold as part of a fund-raising initiative. In December of 2015, the first of over 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Montréal. Non-profit groups quickly organised a number of strategies in order to aclimatise (literally and figuratively) our new community members. This toddler-sized hat was designed as a contribution to the McCord Museum's toque knit-along initiative. It's meant to be roughly interpretive of a layer cake - a sweet celebration for new beginning for a child.
Fully lined this hat is very warm, and a great way of using up your stash if you make the liner in a different colour. Without the pompom, it is also fully reversible. Size: This hat should fit a toddler. It measures 16"/41cm in circumference, and should fit a child's head of 18"/43cm circumference.
MATERIALS:
Note: This hat is knit-in-the-round, so the length of the needles used completely depends on the method you want to use. I used magic-loop to knit it, so I used the 47"/120 cm length circulars - I like a long loop. Having said that, use the length that best fits the method you are using. 4 mm knitting needles 5.5 mm knitting needles 4 mm crochet hook 1 pom-pom (optional)
Yarn:
Aran weight yarn (pictured is Big Value, by Bernat). Yardage for both the liner as well as the outer shell are given, in case you want to use different colours and take advantage of reversible feature of the design, or use this project as a stash-buster.
| PIECE | YARDAGE |
| Liner | 110 metres/120 yards |
| OutsideShell | 80 metres/87 yards |
1 ring st marker, and 1 locking st. Marker
ABBREVIATIONS:
Tension: 20 sts and 19 rows over 10 x 10cm/4" x 4" square in Garter Stitch on 4 mm needles. 16 1/2 sts and 23 rows 0ver 10 cm x 10 cm/4" x4" in Stocking Stitch on 5.5 needles.
Liner:
Cast on 74 sts using the Provisional Cast-On Method (see video here https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhYwuiQ-nIk). Join in the round making sure not to twist them. Mark beginning of round with st. marker. Round 1: Knit. Round 2: Purl Repeat these two rounds until the hat measures 6 1/2"/16.5 cm, ending with a purl round. Decreasing Rounds: Round 1: K2tog, k17, k2tog, k17, k2tog, k17, k2tog, k15 [70 sts]. Round 2: Purl. Round 3: \*K5, k2tog\* around. Round 4: Purl. Round 5: \*K 4, K2tog\* around. Round 6: Purl. Round 7: \*K 3, k2tog\* around. Round 8: Purl. Round 9: \*K 2, k2tog\* around. Round 10: Purl. Round 11: \*K 1, k2tog\* around. Round 12: Purl. Round 13: \*K2tog\* around. Cut yarn leaving a generous tail. Using a darning needle, thread the tail through the remaining live stitches. Pull tight and secure. Weave in ends on inside of liner.
OUTSIDE SHELL:
Undo the provisional cast-on and pick up the live stitches with the 4mm needles. Round 1: Mark the beginning of the round. With 5.5 mm needles, k1, mark this stitch with the locking stitch marker, \*k8, k2tog\* around. [66 sts] Round 2: Purl Round 3: Knit Round 4: Purl Round 5: Knit Round 6: Purl Rounds 7-13: Knit Round 14: Purl Round 15: Knit Round 16: Purl Round17: Knit Round 18: Purl Round 19: Knit Round 20: Purl Rounds 21-31: Knit Round 32: Purl Round 33: Knit Round 34: Purl Round 35: Knit Round 36: Purl Round 37: Knit Round 38: Purl Rounds 39-44: Knit Round 45: Purl Round 46: Knit Round 47: Purl Rounds 48-54: Knit The hat from the marked stitch should now measure 8"/20.5 cm. If not, then keep knitting until it does. Decreasing Section: Round 1: K1, \*K3, k2tog\* around [53 sts]. Round 2: Knit. Round 3: \*K1, k2tog\* around until last 2 sts. K2. [36 sts]. Round 4: Knit. Round 5: K2tog around [18 sts]. Round 6: Knit. Round 7: K2tog around [9 sts]. Round 8: Knit. Cut yarn. Thread through live stitches and secure. Secure shell to liner with this yarn through the top. Weave in ends. If you want to keep the hat reversible, you are done. If not, then sew a pom-pom on top.
