What do you get when you knit a basic beanie and embellish with a duplicate-stitched heart and a contrasting pom pom and braid?  Cuteness! 

I gave this an androgynous name because, like the Jamie hat, it’ll look equally great on a boy or a girl.  I made the first version of this hat for the craft fair at my kids’ school and decided to offer it here for free.  This is a great pattern for beginners and for anyone who wants to try their hand at the versatile duplicate-stitch method of embellishment.  Don’t worry — it’s not hard.  And it’s a great way to personalize knits.

Materials:

Two colors of worsted weight yarn.  In the example, I used Cascade 220 Superwash (yellow) and Knit Picks Swish (red).

16” circular needles, sizes US 5 & 6 (3.5 & 4 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge (I am a loose knitter so in the example, I used sizes 4 and 5) and additional needles in the larger size for small-diameter knitting (DPNs, a second circular or a long Magic Loop needle). 

Gauge:

5 stitches/inch in stockinette stitch.

Measurements:

Child-sized: 6.75” from ribbed brim to top when measured flat.  See guidelines below for sizing up or down.

Abbreviations:

*                      repeat instructions following single * as directed

K                     knit

K2tog              knit 2 stitches together

P                      purl

Rep                  repeat

Sts                   stitch(es)

Instructions:

With main color and smaller needle, cast on 81 stitches.  Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist.  Immediately after the join, bind off 1 stitch to help secure the join.  Place marker.  You now have 80 stitches.

K4, P4 for one inch.

Change to larger needle.  Work even (knitting every round), until piece measures 5”.    

Place a marker every 8 stitches. 

*Knit until two stitches before marker, K2tog, slip marker, rep from * around.  Decrease stitches in this way every other round (knitting alternate rounds plain) until 10 stitches remain.  (Switch to preferred method of small-diameter knitting when there are too few stitches to keep on 16” needle.)

K2tog around. 

K 5 stitches around once. 

Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining stitches and pull tight to fasten off.

Make a medium-sized, full pom pom in contrasting color (red, in the example), using a long strand in the same color and another in main color to secure.  Using two tails from the contrasting color and one tail from the main color, braid for desired length.  Sew braid to top of hat, securing tightly in the inside.

Weave in ends.  Block, if necessary.

Sizing Note:  For an infant-sized hat, cast on 73 stitches, ending up with 72 after the bind-off after the join; work for 4” before decreasing.  Cinch off when you have 8 or fewer stitches.  Sizing up is easy too: cast on 97 stitches, ending up with 96 after the bind-off after the join; work for 6” before decreasing. Cinch off when you have 8 or fewer stitches.

Using the contrasting color and a tapestry needle, duplicate stitch a small heart to front, slightly off center, using the chart below as a guide.

Note: The Internet is filled with wonderful tutorials on how to duplicate stitch; here are three:

http://knitting.about.com/od/knittingskills/ss/duplicat_stitch.htm

http://bellaknitting.typepad.com/bella_knitting/2007/08/duplicate-stitc.html

http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/howto/archive/2008/05/15/duplicate-stitch.aspx 

I also created a video tutorial on duplicate stitching: click here.

 

**Important: this pattern is the property of Leslie Gordon.  Please do not sell this pattern or sell any items you created using this pattern.  Thank you for respecting this copyright.**

Coming soon: an update on the scarf I’ve been knitting (you didn’t know I’ve been knitting a scarf, did you?) and, believe it or not, sock knitting!