Free Pattern – Flip Reversible Unisex Hat

I actually worked out the stitch pattern for a scarf. I wanted something a little bit lacy without looking like lace that didn’t have a wrong side.

The two sides are different but equally attractive. The difference is more pronounced on the scarf but basically one side has definite stocking stitch ridges (below) and the other side makes more of a feature of the yarn overs and decreases (left).

The yarn is Lincraft Prism which is great to knit with. It’s a wool and soy fibre blend in a single ply like roving wool. The colour changes are gradual and because of the construction you can splice the joins together with a bit of spit and hand felting.

Basically I take the two ends of yarn I want to join together and strip out half of the fibres the last 12cm of each piece. Just cut half-way through the yarn and pull away the fibres.

Next I suck on the end of one piece and get it all nice and slobbery. Wet but not dripping. If this grosses you out you can use tap water but I played alto sax for 15 years before breaking my wrist and teeth and I spent a decade and a half sucking the “condensation” out of the mouthpiece. I’m pretty much at ease with a bit of saliva. Also it grosses out the flute section and that’s always good value.

But I digress – the next thing to do is place the pieces together overlapping the cut ends with two centimetres extra (if you thinned out the last 12cm of each end then you overlap the two by 14cm). Roll the pieces together between your hands and you’ll find they start to felt a bit. You won’t get perfect felting but you basically need the pieces to tangle together enough to be able to treat them as a single strand.

This relies on having a single ply yarn that can felt. It’s not going to work on superwash crepe.

The pics below show how I’ve cut the two ends and the almost-felted result.

If you are substituting yarn, here are the specs: you need something with a stocking stitch tension of 10st x 20 rows on 6 – 6.5mm needles. The attributes of Lincraft Prism on Ravelry are not correct – Ravelry has Prism as an aran yarn and it’s certainly not aran. I used 1.3 balls and each ball contains 65m of yarn

Anyhoo…

Skill Level – Easy Intermediate. This hat is knit in the round on double pointed needles using basic increases and decreases.

Finished Size – Fits an adult head. It’s a very springy stitch so even if your head is huge like mine its ok.

Yarn – 85m of anything that knits to a tension of 16 st x 20 rows on 6.5mm needles.

Needles – double pointed 6.5mm needles, you can use a circular needle for most of the hat but as you decrease the crown you’ll need to change to dpns.

Abbreviations

k2tog – knit two stitches together

p2tog – purl two stitches together

yo – take yarn over the needle and bring it back to position for the next stitch; this creates a loop around the needle that is counted as a stitch.

skpo – slip 1 stitch knitwise, knit 1 stitch, pass slipped stitch over the knit stitch

Extras – Tapestry needle to finish.

Cast on 70 stitches (use cable cast on but avoid making it too tight)

Rows 1 to 6 – *k1, p1* repeat to end

Row 7 – *k2tog, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, skpo* repeat to end

Row 8 – *p2, k1, p1, k1, p2* repeat to end

Repeat rows 7 and 8 until work measures 15cm from cast on edge, ending on a row 8.

Row 9 – *p2tog, k1, p1, k1, p2tog* repeat to end (50 stitches)

Row 10 – *p1, k1, p1, k1, p1* repeat to end

Row 11 – *k2tog, p1, k2tog* repeat to end (30 stitches)

Row 12 – *k1, p1, k1* repeat to end

Row 13 – *k2tog, k1* repeat to end (20 stitches)

Row 14 – knit to end

Row 15 – k2tog repeat to end (10 stitches)

Break yarn and thread through remaining stiches using a tapestry needle and pull firmly. Secure by overstitching the “star” that forms when you pull in the stitches and then hide the end under these stitches.

That’s it. A quick to make, unisex hat.