Double Knit Skull Cap

It was a bit of a forced march at the end, but I got the skull hat done this week. After all the adjustments made for size (both circumference and height), it's the right size to fit Troy so I'm assuming that's good enough!

There was more finishing work to this hat than most because of the double knitting, but it was all easily handled one step at a time.

When I got to the end of the pattern, I knit a couple rows in the main colour (on each side, so to speak) and then was ready to cast off.

Of course, you can't just cast off like normal--each stitch slipped over the next stitch--because you've got stitches from two different layers. So I separated the layers, putting the inside layer (light stitches) on one cable and the outside layer (dark stitches) on another

You can see the two layers curling away from each other
once they are put onto separate needles.

While I had the opportunity to hide the yarn between the layers, I ran the light yarn end through the back of the stitches. I made a couple zigs and zags (changing direction helps to keep the end from working out) and then left a longish tail between the layers.

I couldn't do the same with the dark yarn end because I was going to use that to cast off. I cut the yarn to a length about 4.5 times around the circle, put it on a blunt needle and started to Kitchener the inside stitches to the outside:

It took a while, but the final finish is definitely worth it. (And let's be honest, it takes a while to do a regular cast off as well.) If you are really opposed to Kitchenering, you could do a three needle bind off. Just make sure it's stretchy enough.

Then I put the dark yarn end onto a sharp needle and worked it into the back of the stitches between the layers as best I could. You don't have a lot of room, but you can still pull the layers apart even if they don't open up like when I worked in the light yarn end.

Then I had to go back to the top of the hat and take care of the slit from when I was working flat. I used the long tail from the cast on and mattress stitched just the dark layer. Also, instead of sewing one stitch in from the edge, I went half a stitch in. Since I didn't decrease a selvage stitch when I started working in the round, I didn't want to pull it in too much on the upper part.

Once the dark layer was done, I did the same thing to the light layer:

I'm working the yarn end in by switching to a sharp needle
and pulling it through the back of the stitches. I zigged
and zagged a couple times and then left a long end between
the layers. If you do it right you won't see it from the
outside at all.

And presto, you have a hat that you can way either way:

Project Stats
Started: 11 Nov '12 / Finished: 9 Dec '12
Pattern: Skull Hat by Gina Doherty
Materials: half ball of each color, Patons Classic Wool Merino (Dark Grey Mix and Natural Mix)

Double Double Take (or A Hat is a Gauge Swatch)

I've started a hat I've had in mind for a while...something with a skull on it for someone I work with. (No, I don't want him dead--it's the haunted house thing again.) He always admires my knitting and extols the virtues of wool and alpaca. There's not much more you can do to make yourself knit worthy! (Ok, maybe actually buying me wool would raise you up a little higher, but that's not necessary.)

I had already decided to double knit the hat for warmth and to avoid the long floats the colourwork would require. I found two complementary shades of brown of the same yarn in my stash and set to work.

The slit in the top is from when I was working in rows.
Once the increases were done, I started working in the
round. It will be short work to sew the seam shut with
the long tails I left at the cast on.

The first start was not very successful. I started at the bottom as the pattern suggested, but the number of stitches was way off--the hat would have been huge. The double knitting part, however, was making it hard to get a good sense of my gauge. I had the brilliant plan to start over from the top so I could just stop increasing when the hat was big enough.

That worked fairly successfully. I did the crown of the hat on straight needles in the flat (i.e. not in the round). It was a new skill to do increases in double knitting, but it went pretty easily. I would increase 8 times around in the one colour on one row, and on the next row I would increase in the other colour. That way I never had to increase both colours at the same time (and I could do all the increases on knit rows instead of purl rows), and each colour got a plain row of knitting in between the increase rows.

By the time I got to the right size, I had one pattern repeat less than the pattern called for (14 sts). No wonder my first try was so big!

Then I followed the pattern's instructions and did 12 rows of plain knitting--no increases and no colourwork.

Then I started the colourwork pattern:

I'm not quite half way through the colourwork, and I can tell that this hat is going to be way too tall. (This is making me think my gauge is way different than the pattern's, but I'm telling you it does say to use worsted weight and that's what I'm using--on smaller needles, no less.) After a brief phone consultation with my hat-knitting sister, we've decided that if I rip back to where the increases end and skip the 12 rows of plain knitting, the hat should come out alright. Maybe a touch long, but that's better than short.

One side:

the other side. Double knitting makes a perfectly reversible hat. I think it's like magic...only real.