Tropical Twist Hat

Tropical Twist Hat

First off, I have to say it: I've been having a great time taking my knitting photos in my yard, even if my neighbors now think I'm nuts (and they definitely do). But I don't care, because the Tropical Twist Hat looks great out in the wild. Sure, it's nothing fancy - just some alternating cables - but it's a nice, clean, unisex design that takes variegation well. And sometimes, that's all you need!

Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Paints (100% Hand Painted Superwash Wool; 220 yards [200 meters]/100 grams); #9859 Tropical Punch - one skein

Needles: One 16" circular needle in size US 6, one set of double pointed needles (dpns), also in size US 6, and one cable needle (cn) or dpn for cabling (or you can always cable without a needle, if you'd prefer)

Notions: Tapestry needle, stitch marker

Gauge: 22 stitches = 4 inches

So let's make a hat! First, then, using your circular needle, cast on 120 stitches, place marker, and join in round. If you want to get really fancy, you could knit the first five or six rows in a smaller gauge needle to create a tighter brim, but it's certainly not necessary. Either way you do it, we'll get straight to the main pattern, after a little notation as follows:

front cross (fc): slip 2 stitches to your cn and hold in front; k2; k2 from cn

left twist (lt): with right-hand needle behind left-hand needle, skip one stitch and knit the second stitch in back loop; then insert right-hand needle into the backs of both stitches and k2tog-b (knit two together through back loops, inserting right needle from the right)

And now that we've covered that, let's get to it!

Rows 1 & 2: * p1, k4, p2, k4, p1; rep from *

Row 3: * p1, k4, p2, fc, p1 *

Rows 4 - 8: * p1, k4, p2, k4, p1 *

Row 9: * p1, fc, p2, k4, p1 *

Rows 10 - 12: * p1, k4, p2, k4, p1 *

Knit rows 1 - 12 three times and then knit rows 1 - 9 once more. Now it's time to begin our decrease rows, as follows:

Decrease Row 1: * p1, ssk, k2tog, p2, k4, p1 * (100 stitches)

Decrease Row 2: * p1, lt, p2, k4, p1 *

Decrease Row 3: * p2tog, k1, p2, k4, p1 * (90 stitches)

Decrease Row 4: * p4, k4, p1 * 

You may want to switch to your dpns about now...

Decrease Row 5: * p3tog, p1, k4, p1 * (70 stitches)

Decrease Row 6: * p2, fc, p1 *

Decrease Row 7: * p2, ssk, k2tog, p1 * (50 stitches)

Decrease Row 8: * p2, lt, p1 *

Decrease Row 9: * p1, p2tog, k1, p1 * (40 stitches) 

Decrease Row 10: slip first 2 stitches to final dpn; then, * k1, p3tog * (20 stitches)

Decrease Row 11: * ssk * (10 stitches)

Clip yarn tail, thread through final 10 stitches, and pull tight. Thread to inside of hat and knot.