Dreadlock Tube Hat
from Designs by CindyPsych This hat was designed for my son's girlfriend who has beautiful, long dreadlocks. I wanted to give her something she could wear to keep her ears warm and her dreads contained. Normal hats wind up getting pulled off by the weight of her dreads. So this hat is essentially a tube with a cord on the end that she can either pull tight so make this a closed hat or she can keep looser and pass her dreads through it.
Yarn used: Bernat Soft Boucle in Plum Heather, about 1/3 to % of the ball (approx. 85 to 125 yards). Any chunky sized yarn should do but I particularly like the way the boucle yarn looks and feels. Also used around 3 yards of Caron One Pound in Deep Violet for the tie cord. Needles used: Primary needle used was a size 11 (8mm) circular needle around 23" long. Could also use longer if you use the endless loop technique. Used a size 9 (5.5 mm) circular needle around 23" long to cast on and do the initial ribbing.
Instructions:
Cast on 61 stitches (I used the long tail cast on method). This makes a generously sized hat - adjust up or down as needed but start with an odd number of stitches. Join the stitches in the round by knitting the first and last stitches together. You should have 60 stitches (or any even number of stitches). Place a stitch marker after this knit together stitch. This will mark the start of the round. Ribbing rounds: Rounds 1 - 20: Using size 9 (5.5mm) needles, \*K1, P1\* repeat between \*\*s for around 20 rounds or until you've reached around 3.5 inches. Knit one more round of K1, P1 ribbing using size 11 (8mm) needles. Round 21: Using size 11 needles, \*K2tog (knit 2 stitches together as if they were one)\* repeat between \*\*s for the fullround. You should have 30 stitches (or an even number f you changed the number cast On). K2tog one more time so that you have 29 stitches (or an odd number of stitches). Rounds 22 - 30 (or 22 - 48, see Note 2) : \*yo (yarn over), P2tog (purl two stitches together as if they were one)\* repeat between \*\*s for either around 9 rounds or until you've knit another 10 inches. Note 1: Remember, the first yarn over, which is after a knit stitch, you bring the yarn to the front as if to purl and then do the yarn over, so it feels like you're wrapping it around twice. Every other
time, when you're doing the yarn over between the P2tog stitches, you will just wrap it once. Note 2: As you follow this pattern you'll see it emerging in a spiraling pattern around the hat. If you would like to keep that pattern going then keep up the same pattern until around round 49, or until you've knit another 10" or so. If you would like to see more of a zig-zag-zig pattern (see next picture) then follow the pattern until round 30 and then do the following: Rounds 31 - 39: yo, purl (do NOT purl 2 together), then \*yo, P2tog\* repeat between \*\*s for around 9 rounds. This moves you forward one in the pattern (or back one, depending on how you think about it) which causes the spiraling stitches to reverse direction and start spiraling the other way. Rounds 40 -48: yo, purl (do NOT purl 2 together), then \*yo, P2tog\* repeat between \*\*s for around 9 rounds. Again, this causes the spiraling stitches to reverse direction and start spiraling the other way. So you should see a big zig-zag-zig in the pattern. Round 49: \*k2tog\* repeat between \*\*s for a round or until you've reduced the stitches to 15. Rounds 50 - 60: \*yo, P2tog\* repeat between \*\*s for either around 11 rounds or until you've knit another 3 inches. Bind off very loosely. Instructions for cord: I just braided three 1-yard lengths of a similar non-Boucle yarn together until I had a cord around 2 feet long. Thread that cord in and out and around the end of the hat. I put it in the middleof the last 3 inches that I knit.
For questions, comments, or any other feedback please email cindypsych@gmail.com.
