☆RICKETYAACKETY
Needles: US 6 / 4mm - 36" circular or set of dpns ?Yarn: Worsted/Aran weight (pictured in Valley Superwash) Gauge: 5 sts/in; 4 sts/2 cm Sizes: (S, M, L) 0 Small (0-3 mo.) - 13"/33 cm (stretch to 15/2"/39 cm) - 64 sts 0 Medium (6-12 mo.) - 14/2"/37 cm (stretch to 17/2"/44 cm) - 72 sts Large (18-24 mo.) -16"/41 cm (stretch to 19"/49 cm) - 80 sts
TUBULAR CAST-ON
With waste yarn (you'll need about 1 yd/m), make a crochet chain with hook or fingers. Chain (32, 36, 40) sts (half the total) and a few for insurance. Pick up (32, 36, 40) sts from the back of the chain. Rnd 1: (k1, yo) to end. You will now have the full (64, 72, 80) sts for the hat. Divide stitches for magic loop or dpns. Being careful not to twist, join in round. Rnd 2: (sl1 wyib, p1) to end Rnd 3: (k1, sl1 wyif) to end From here, begin (k1, p1) rib. After one or more rows of ribbing, you may remove the waste yarn by undoing the chain and pulling the yarn out through the tube created by the cast on. Knit about 1.5"/4 cm (9-10 rounds) of ribbing or more as desired.
HAT BODY
S: (K3, k2tog, k2, kfb) all around for two rounds, then knit one round plain for 2.5 - 3 in. (\~17 rnds) M: (K3, k2tog, k3, kfb) all around for two rounds, then knit one round plain for 3 - 3.5 in (\~20 rnds) L: (K4, k2tog, k3, kfb) all around for two rounds, then knit one round plain for 3.5 - 4 in (\~23 rnds)
DECRERSES
After desired hat body length, simply drop the kfb from the pattern, while continuing to k2tog where you had been. Continue decrease rounds until 8 sts remain, then break yarn and draw through stitches.
WAAIATONS
You can knit a few rounds plain before beginning the inc/dec body rounds and will still see the wavy effect on that section. Change the size of the swirling bands. The stitches before the k2tog are those that will appear to travel around the hat. You have (8, 9, 10) stitches to play with and up to (5, 6, 7) can go before the k2tog. Change the frequency of the bands. These hats are all built on having 8 repeats/bands, but you could divide it up based on some other factor. For example, you could use only 4 repeats/bands, and have (16, 18, 20) stitches to divide up in each. Add a cable or some other pattern within the swirling band stitches. This pattern does really fun things with stripes. Following is a round-by-round breakdown of the striping patterns used in the pictured hats. Both are written for size small, but could be easily adapted to another size simply by adding one or two more decrease rows.
STRIPY #1
Rnds 1-8: MC, cast on & 1x1 rib Rnd 9: MC, knit all Rnd 10: MC, knit all Rnd 11: CC1, knit all Rnd 12: CC1, knit all Rnd 13: (K3 in CC2, sl 1) all around Rnd 14: CC1, knit all Rnd 15: CC1, knit all Rnd 16: MC, begin hat body rnds Rnd 17: MC Rnd 18: MC, knit plain Rnd 19: MC Rnd 20: MC Rnd 21: CC1, knit plain Rnd 22: CC1 Rnd 23: MC Rnd 24: MC, knit plain Rnd 25: CC2 Rnd 26: MC Rnd 27: CC2, knit plain Rnd 28: MC Rnd 29: CC2 Rnd 30: MC, knit plain Rnd 31: MC, begin dec. rnds (56 sts rem.) Rnd 32: CC1 (48 sts rem.)
Rnd 33: CC1 (40 sts rem.) Rnd 34: MC (32 sts rem.) Rnd 35: MC (24 sts rem.) Rnd 36: MC (16 sts rem.) Rnd 37: MC (8 sts rem.) Break yarn and draw through.
STRIPY #2
Rnds 1-5: MC, cast on & 1x1 rib Rnd 6: CC1, 1x1 rib Rnd 7: CC2, 1x1 rib Rnd 8: CC1, 1x1 rib Rnd 9: MC, 1x1 rib Rnd 10: MC, 1x1 rib Rnd 11: MC, begin hat body rnds Rnd 12: MC Rnd 13: MC, knit plain Rnd 14: MC Rnd 15: MC Rnd 16: CC1, knit plain Rnd 17: MC Rnd 18: CC1 Rnd 19: MC, knit plain Rnd 20: CC1 Rnd 21: MC Rnd 22: MC, knit plain Rnd 23: MC Rnd 24: MC Rnd 25: CC1, knit plain Rnd 26: MC Rnd 27: CC1 Rnd 28: MC, begin dec. rnds (56 sts rem.) Rnd 29: MC (48 sts rem.) Rnd 30: MC (40 sts rem.) Rnd 31: MC (32 sts rem.) Rnd 32: MC (24 sts rem.) Rnd 33: MC (16 sts rem.) Rnd 34: MC (8 sts rem.) Break yarn and draw through.
