My e-mail address: deborah-web@deborah.best.vwh.net My Ravelry ID is DeborahBennett
Maze and Chevron Hat by Deborah Bennett
Adult. Photographer: Deborah Bennett Difficulty: Advanced Beginner Skills used: Knit stitch, purl stitch, slip stitch, K2tog and SSK decreases, knitting in the round I designed this hat as a way to try out a new yarn and to be entertaining to knit. It is also a great stash-buster, since it uses $\mathbf{1}/\mathbf{2}$ skein each of two colors. I loved knitting it and I love wearing it. The shape is like a toque: a braided band, then straight knitting (no shaping) up to the second band. The top is decreased by 8 stitches every other row until 8 stitches are left, and the hat is topped with a MC I-cord tied in a knot. The hat looks quite complicated but is actually easy to knit. Only one color is used on any given round in most of the hat. There are only 4 rows (in the bands) which use both colors at the same time. The hat uses three pattern elements. The two bands are a modified version of the braided band from the Toque chapter of 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats to Knit. The straight section uses the Maze Pattern (p. 69 in 1970 edition) from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The top uses the Zebra Chevron (p.69 in the 1968 edition) from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The mosaic patterns are not worked as true mosaic patterns, since I worked each row in the chart only once. (I call this single-row or short-form Mosaic knitting, which can only be done in the round). I was partially inspired by the Maze hat by Celeste Culpepper.
L to R, Adult, Child. Photographer: Deborah Bennett SIZE Child [Adult] (shown in size Adult)
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
20 [23] inches around 7 [9.5] inches high (excluding top knot)
MATERIALS
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice $[100\%$ acrylic; 170yd/156m per 100g skein] [MC] color: White; one half skein [CC] color: Black; one half skein 1 set US #8/5.omm double-point needles 1 16- or 20-inch US #8/5.omm circular needle 1 16- or 20-inch US #6/4.omm circular needle 6 [7] stitch markers. One marker (for beginning of round) should be a different color. Yarn needle
GAUGE
17 sts/21 rows $=4"$ in stockinette stitch using larger needles 20 sts/22 rows $\mathsf{\Delta}=4^{\mathsf{\,>}}$ over maze pattern using larger needles
Maze Section Detail. Photographer: Deborah Bennett
PATTERN NOTES
I think the hat looks best in strongly contrasting colors. While working the maze and chevron charts, you will be using only one strand of yarn at a time. At the end of each round, you will switch to the other color. On each pattern round, you will knit the stitches on the chart which appear in your working color, and slip the stitches (purlwise with yarn in back) which appear in the other color. The bar on the right shows the color used for each row. Chart rows are read from right to left. Use stitch markers to keep track of pattern repeats and beginning of round. You will use 6 [7] markers in the straight (maze) section, and 4 markers in the crown (chevron) section. Hold the yarn in back when slipping stitches. At the beginning of each new round, pick up the new color from under the old color to avoid holes. There is an excellent video tutorial showing knitting a left-pointing braid at this URL: http: //www.knitwhits.com/community/tutorials.php#Braid. Note that I have written this pattern with a right-pointing braid, which simply reverses the two rows shown in the video.
DIRECTIONS
With MC and smaller circular needle, CO 84 [98] sts. Place end of round marker and join to work in the round, being careful not to twist. Join CC.
Braided Band (pointing right)
Pull out several yards of yarn from skeins of MC and CC. This length will accommodate the yarns twisting and untwisting as the band is worked. [K1 MC, K1 CC], continue to work around alternating MC and CC stitches. End with a CC stitch. Bring both yarns to front. P1 MC. Drop MC, pick up CC from under MC. P1 CC. Drop CC, pick up MC from under CC. Continue to work around, alternating MC and CC purl stitches, keeping floats in front of work, and allowing working yarns to twist together clockwise in the same direction each time. Note that each stitch color will match its corresponding stitch in the previous round. P1 MC. Drop MC, pick up CC from over MC. P1 CC. Drop CC, pick up MC from over CC. Continue to work around, alternating MC and CC purl stitches, keeping floats in front of work, and allowing working yarns to untwist (counter-clockwise) in the same direction each time. The direction of twist is opposite to the previous round. The stitch color will still match its corresponding stitch in the previous round.
Straight (Maze) Section
Switch to larger circular needle. With MC, K 3 rounds. On last round, place markers every 14 stitches for a total of 7[8] markers on the needles. The maze pattern is based on two groups of 7 stitches. One group is 7 stitches of working color together forming a horizontal bar, the other 7 are alternating. with the other color forming the vertical bars.The groups progress one stitch to the right with each round. Using MC for dark and CC for light, work rounds 1-16 of Maze chart. For size Child: Work rounds 1-8 of Maze chart. There are 6 repeats of the chart around the hat. For size Adult: Work rounds 1-16 of Maze chart again. There are 7 repeats of the chart around the hat. With MC, Ktwo rounds. On first round, remove all markers except the beginning of round marker.
Upper Band
Work Braided Band again exactly as before.
Crown (Chevron) Section
With MC, K one round. For size Child: Continuing with MC, (K10, K2Tog, K9, PM) 3 times, K10, K2Tog, K9. For sizeAdult: Continuing with MC, K24, PM, K2Tog, K23, PM, K23, K2Tog, PM, K24. 4 markers placed every 20 [24] sts, 80 [96] sts on needle. Be sure to work the correct chart for your chosen size. Using MC for dark and CC for light, work rows 1-19 [1-23] of Zebra Chevron chart. Switch to DPNS when necessary. 8 sts on needle. Cut CC and draw into hole in center of hat to be darned in later.
Crown Detail. Photograhper: Deborah Bennett I-Cord Place remaining 8 sts on one DPN. Last stitch previously worked is on the lefthand end of the DPN. With MC, K2tog 4 times. 4 sts on needle. Slide sts to other end of needle. K4. Slide sts to other end of needle. Continue to work 4-stitch I-cord in MC to desired length. Bind off. Tie I-cord in a knot. FINISHING Weave in ends. Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Deborah Bennett knits and works as a stay-at-home mom and part time theater tech in the San Francisco Bay Area. She previously worked on device drivers and operating systems software for a number of Silicon Valley high-tech firms. Pattern and Images copyright 2oo8 Deborah Bennett. Pattern is for your personal or charity use only, sales of items made from this pattern prohibited without approval of Deborah Bennett. Maze and Chevron Hat Charts Maze and Chevron Hat Charts Maze Chart (all sizes)
Child L Zebra Chevron Chart
Adult M Zebra Chevron Chart
Slip as to purl with yarn in back SSK decrease K2Tog decrease
