As the Winter Olympics have come to a close and the cauldron is now extinguished, I can say I enjoyed these Olympics. I watched many hours of programming, recording some events, watching others live, or was it really live. Chloe Kim winning Snowboard Half Pipe had everyone talking. You may not be talking about her, but it was her knit hat that had everyone talking.
Where did she get that hat? Where can I get one? Wait a minute, I can knit that hat. I may not have that exact yarn that was used for the hat, or the USA emblem on it, but a hat can be knitted up. Time to check out my stash of yarn and let’s figure out a pattern for it.
I found some yarn to knit with: Lion Brand Hometown yarn, in the colorway Los Angeles Tan; Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick, in the colorway Natural Cream. The knitting needles used: US15 – 10mm, 16 inch circular needles. Make sure to have double pointed needles, or another US15 circular needles for decrease section. These can be purchased at your local yarn shops, but if you like more options, Love Knitting has a great selection of super bulky, super chunky yarns like Blue Sky Fibers Bulky, Cascade Lana Grande, Plymouth Yarn Encore Mega, just to name a few.
Now for the pattern. From all the photos of Chloe Kim, it looks like the pattern is be quite easy. Knit 1, Purl 1, repeat until desired size. Its figuring out how many stitches to cast on. With several attempts of, I decided to use 40. So here is the pattern:
Cast On 41 stitches. Normally you would just attach first stitch to last stitch and knit. But for this pattern, and all of my patterns when knitting in the round, cast on 1 additional stitch, Knit 1, Pass the last stitch that was cast on over the Knit Stitch. That is your first stitch, your next stitch will be Purl 1. Then continue with the pattern.
*K1, P1, repeat all the way around. Place a stitch marker after the last stitch of the round.
Continue until the hat measures between 10 inches from edge to needles. Fold up the edge, try on the hat. You can knit it longer if you want the ribbing taller. Time to decrease, then bind off. You will be decreasing in knit stitches only, as it is easier than trying to figure out which stitch
Decrease for top of Hat
Next Rnd: * Slip next 2 sts as if to knit, one at a time, to right hand needle; insert left hand needle into fronts of these 2 sts and knit them together, purl the next 2 sts together; repeat from * around – you’ll have 20 sts at the end of this rnd.
Next Rnd: *Knit 1, purl 1; repeat from * around.
Next Rnd: * Slip next 2 sts as if to knit, one at a time, to right hand needle; insert left hand needle into fronts of these 2 sts and knit them together; repeat from * around – you’ll have 10 sts.
Cut yarn, leaving a long yarn tail. Thread yarn tail into blunt needle and then weave through the sts of the last rnd. Pull to close top of Hat and knot yarn. Your hat is finished, wear until you get the tassles cut.
To cut tassles, cut a piece of yarn, about 8 inches long and set aside. With the remainder of the skein of yarn, wrap yarn around a small container like the tools box shown , or you can wrap around your hand. Count about 4o wraps. Take the piece of yarn, thread it with large eye needle, insert into one edge of box, and tie it tight. Take your scissors and cut through the yarn on the opposite side to create strips. Now sew to top of hat on the inside, making sure you weave the yarn tails around the top of the hat. Knot and cut.
The hat is done, and you will be the envy of all those that want the hat. Be sure to post to your social media site with the hash tag #YarnKat. I would love to see what your hat looks like, send me photos and I will add them to my social media pages.
Copyright 2018 Kathy Bartholomew Designs. Please to do copy this pattern and claim it as yours. You may link back to me here @YarnKat as the originator of the pattern. Feel free to sell items made from the pattern.
P.S. Baggy cat has recovered from his surgical procedure, as you can see in his photo. He now has a “cauliflower” ear. It will never be straight, but he is happier since the drain is removed. He’s back to his old self, playing with Gizmo and, each chasing each other throughout the apartment.
