FlamE Oh, A BABy Hat With AttiTUdE
Just say no to pastel baby clothes, and dress your kids in “cool" stuff before they have a chance to fight back. And take pictures...lots and lots of pictures. You will need: Size 5 double pointed needles. Two colors of a light worsted weight yarn. I used Kona Superwash from Woven Art in East Lansing, Michigan. This is a hand-dyed, washable Merino yarn and can be ordered on line at www.yarnandfiberart.com. Gauge: I wish I could tell you, but I passed the hat on to another newborn. It was approximately 5 stitches per inch, maybe 5 and a half, but it's for a newborn, so who cares anyway? Nothing ever fits a newborn. I can tell you that I knit on the tight side, so if you are a loose knitter, go up a needle size. In the “flame” color cast on 73 stitches on 4 double pointed needles. Make sure the stitches aren't twisted and slip the last stitch onto the left hand needle. Knit the first two stitches together to start the round. I like to start circular knitting this way since it avoids the gappy first stitch, but if you would rather you can cast on 72 stitches and knit in the round without the k2tog. Knit around until you have about 2 inches of hat, this will give you a little bit to roll for the brim and a nice base for your flames. The fair isle portion of the hat is 4repeats of this chart:
There are several very long floats in the beginning and ending rows, you can secure these by twisting the “resting” yarn around the working yarn, but be careful to make sure that you strands are loose because otherwise the wrong color has a tendency to show through on the front side. I usually hold my resting yarn (that would be the one making the strand) out at an angle from the work, bring the working yarn up over it to create the next stitch and then relax the tension in the resting yarn. After completing the fair isle portion, begin decreasing: you will decrease once in the middle and once at the end of each needle. $1^{\mathrm{st}}$ decrease row: \* knit 7 stitches, k2tog, repeat from \* until the end of the row, total of 8 decreased stitches per row. Knit 1 row $2^{\mathrm{nd}}$ decrease row: \*knit 6 stitches, k2tog, repeat from \* until the end of the row Knit one row You may find it helpful to place stitch markers. If so place them before the k2togs on the first decrease row, and remember that your decreases are after each marker. Continue to decrease in pattern until there are 6 stitches on each needle, then decrease on every row until 4 stitches remain. Slip these four stitches on to one needle and work as i-cord until tail is long enough to knot. Cut yarn and draw tail through the live stitches and pull to close. With a darning needle work the tail into the end on the i-cord and pull through to the inside of the hat. Cut off excess. Weave in ends and find a baby. Pattern notes: My son was 6 and a half pounds at birth and this was a little big on him when he was born, but he outgrew it around 2 months of age. I haven't tried it, but theoretically you could make a larger hat by casting on 90 stitches and knitting 5 repeats of the chart. Then you would decrease 10 times per round. I don't think you could make it much larger than that or the flames would be out of proportion, but you could always try it with a bulky yarn. If you do attempt to make a larger size, you might want to knit the initial tube longer than two inches, and or not start the decreases directly after you finish the chart. You'll sorta have to eyeball it. I'm offering this pattern for free, and the only request I have is that you give credit where credit is due if you knit it, and not claim the pattern as your own. If you like this pattern you can show your appreciation by knitting an extra one and giving it to charity. Please send me pictures of your little punk rockers in their funky flamey hats. This pattern was designed by J. Henderson, a.k.a Ragnar. for Domestic Piracy www.domesticpiracy.blogspot.com jessyhenderson @ gmail.com Copyright 2008
