FREE PATTERN: Simply Dotted Hat

The "Simply Dotted Hat" pattern starts from the top down and is knit in the round. This is a modified version of the "Simple Seed stitch", page 64, The Harmony Guide to Knitting Techniques and Stitches, edited by Debra Mountford.




Multiple of 4 plus 1 (I had 81 stitches)
Yarn: worsted weight acrylic
Size: US 7 mm /4.5 mm

INCREASE portion
Using 4 dpns

Cast on 9 stitches, and divide evenly on 3 dpns, 3 stitches per needle.

Row 1: Knit (and all other odd rows)
Row 2: Knit into the front of back of each stitch (kfb), producing 6 stitches per needle, total of 18 stitches.
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: kfb every 2nd stitch, producing 9 stitches per needle, total 27 stitches.
Row 5: Knit
Row 6: kfb every 3nd stitch, producing 12 stitches per needle, total 36 stitches.
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: kfb every 4th stitch, producing total of 15 stitches per needle, total 45 stitches.
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: kfb every 5th stitch, producing 18 stitches per needle, total 54 stitches.
Row 11: Knit
Row 12: kfb every 6th stitch, producing 21 stitches per needle, total 63 stitches.
Row 13: Knit
Row 14: kfb every 7th stitch, producing 24 stitches per needle, total 72 stitches.
Row 15: Knit
Row 16: kfb every 8th stitch, producing 27 stitches per needle, total 81 stitches.

VIEW OF THE SPIRAL TOP





START OF "Simply Dotted" pattern-- switch to circulars

Row 17: (Row 1 of pattern, right side)
Purl 1, *knit 3, purl 1* until last 4 stitches, knit 4.

Row 18: (Row 2 of pattern)
Knit

Row 19: (Row 3 of pattern)
Knit

Row 20: (Row 4 of pattern)
Knit

Row 21: (Row 5 of pattern)
Knit 2, Purl 1, *knit 3, purl 1* until last 2 stitches, knit 2.

Row 22: (Row 6 of pattern)
Knit

Row 23: (Row 7 of pattern)
Knit

Row 24: (Row 8 of pattern)
Knit

Repeat Rows 17-24 until desired length.



Basically, the pattern's rows 1 and 5 are where the dotted stitches are worked, and you knit 3 rows between Rows 1 and 5.

For this hat, I preferred having a rolled brim. After getting about 5-6 inches, I stopped at either Row 4 or Row 8, and just knitted all rows, up to at least one more inch.



If you wish to end the hat with a 1x1 rib, stop knitting in pattern when you reach either Row 4 or Row 8, depending on your desired hat length, then start knitting in single rib.

Bind off loosely.

May is official HAT month

Last night, when the rains brought in thunder, I had to stop my writing job and switch off the PC. Sure, that kinda ruined my deadline-meeting plan, but it also gave me the excuse to knit instead.

What to knit... I went through all my WIPs and decided, nah, I gotta do what I promised to do. So I sat and started to knit a cute little hat for my godson Anthony, now in the Bahamas but maybe will winter at my sister's in Connecticut, if his family can afford the airfare. Still, I heard it can get cold in the Bahamas, so he could still use his cute blue-and-purple acrylic hat there.

I'm about 80 percent done with the hat. Then I'll make him another one in green. Then I'm gonna knit hats for the rest of his family... that would be a total of 5 hats to knit.

So yeah, for May, I think I'll just finish the hats even if they'll get to the intended recipients in December. At least they'll all be done and washed by then.

I love knitting hats from the top-down. I like experimenting with the design as I go along... do I make the hat just one solid color, or add stripes from some left-over yarn, for some color? Do I make it all stockinette, or make it ribbed?

After this batch, I also have one more hat to make, ordered by my friend Melis, for her niece in Indiana. Frankly I have no idea how cold it gets there, I'm still gonna make the hat. I already got the order, and the yarn.

Hot hats!

My brother in Oakland called long-distance today, just to say thanks for the hats I gave him when he was here in the Philippines, just before he was about to fly back home across the Pacific Ocean. He especially LOVES the bright blue-green hat that wasn't even really for him, but for my sister in San Francisco... well, it fits his bald head so well.

It's a cool color combination of Peacock Blue and Lime Green... I adapted a pattern for a chemo cap, here, to make the 2-inch rim (I think) in head-hugging single rib.

I realized today that I hadn't posted pics of this hat here in my blog, but have done it already in Ravelry ... so here's how it looks:


Left, a pic of the hat in progress, and right, the finished hat... I'm gonna knit at least two more in this color combo...

Here's a work-in-progress pic of the hat I'm knitting now, an orange acrylic hat :


It's almost done, I'm now making a single-rib rim. Will soon post pic of the finished hat...Just like with the chemo cap pattern, I adapted a basic, top-down pattern called Karlchen to give it a longer rim, maybe 2.5 inches instead of 1 inch.