Hat for a Cowl with a Point

When I finished my Cowl with a Point, I had enough yarn that I decided to try and make a hat to match. I'd use the same stitch pattern, but convert it to a circle so I could make a tam-style hat. Then it was a race to see who would finish first--the hat or the yarn. Lucky for me the yarn outlasted the hat.

I started at the centre back with a little bit of I-cord, then increased out while repeating the pattern. I increased eight times in a round, and maybe I should not have lined up the increases because I ended up with wedges instead of a smooth circle. But it's pretty close to a circle.

When it seemed like it was big enough, I stopped increasing and started decreasing. If I wasn't worried about running out of yarn, I would have worked an inch or two straight with no shaping first.

Then when I had decreased enough that I thought it was the right size for the band, I cast on some more stitches and worked in the perpendicular direction, taking up a stitch of the hat on every other row. Working in perpendicular garter stitch is as good as using ribbing in most cases.

Project Stats
Started: 24 Jul '12
Finished: 1 Sep '12
Pattern: my own design
Materials: 35 g of Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester Socks (Hercules, I think) I was convinced the hat was way too small before blocking, but I decided to put it on a plate anyway (also known as "blocking") figuring that I had to know how big/small it really was before I could know how to change it. I had about 8 grams of yarn left over, so I did have enough to adjust the size some if needed.

But after blocking, I tried it on and decided that although the band is pretty snug, it isn't too tight. That sounds like a good recipe for keeping your hat on!

So I'm not going to change it at all. Now I can tuck my matching set away for a few months (weeks?) until cooler weather comes!

For those who are interested in making their own, here's what I did:

Cast on 3 stitches and do 3 rows of I-cord.
Incr 1 st and beginning working in round
Kfb across (8 sts)
Continue in garter increasing 8 sts evenly on every other row.
Garter for 4 ridges, then switch to eyelet pattern (continuing the increases on every other row):
Knit
Purl
Knit
Purl
Knit 2 rounds
(K2tog, YO) to end of round
Knit 2 rounds
Purl
Knit
Purl
Knit 2 rounds
Repeat from beginning for pattern.

Continue increases until third eyelet row, then start decreasing (8 times per round) on every other row until 64 sts remain.
Do one extra knit round, then start garter band, as follows:
Switch to smaller needles.
Provisionally cast on 8 stitches at EOR.
S1, K6, P2tog with one stitch of main hat.
S1 knitwise, K 7.
Repeat these two rows around hat.
Kitchener end to provisional cast on.

Send me a link if you make your own...I'd love to see it!