Having a yarn stash is a funny thing. It’s this weird form of hoarding that I don’t realize is happening until I’m trying to consolidate the yarn in my life and find ball after ball of well-intentioned yarn that had a purpose at some point. Not to mention the gifted yarn that I’ve been given over the years somehow means I’ve got upwards of forty balls of yarn scattered throughout the apartment.
Ever since some friends made me my yarn storage peg board I’ve been working on digging through some of the older skeins of yarn and putting them to good use. That’s where the Emma hat came from. For my birthday last year I was given five really lovely skeins of yarn that I’d only gotten around to using one of. So I resolved to use up the Malabrigo Rios that I was gifted by making a hat for my friend Emma from work.
A little note about Emma—she’s a self-published author (you can check out her books here) who’s got a penchant for awesome hair colors that very few people can pull off. She’d recently dyed her hair green right after I started making this hat for her, and I’m very happy to say the colors in the Rios worked perfectly with her green hair, and I suspect when she dyes her hair blue in a few weeks it’ll look just as good.
This is a really simple pattern that knits up surprisingly quickly for a worsted weight hat and it’s the type of pattern you can knit while holding a conversation (or while in meetings at work).
Here’s what you’ll need:
150 g worsted weight yarn – I used the Malabrigo Rios in Aniversario
4.5 mm (US Size 7) Circular Needles
4.5 mm (US Size 7) Double Pointed Needles
Cast on 80 stitches in your preferred cast-on method. Join the stitches in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Row 1: K1,P1 until the end of the row.
Rows 2-10: Repeat row 1
Row 11: M1L, K2,P2 until the end of the row.
Repeat row 11 until the hat is 9 inches long.
Decreases:
Row 1: K2tog, P2, K2, P2, Repeat
Row 2: K1,P2, K2, P2, Repeat
Row 3: K1, P2tog, K2, P2
Row 4: K1, P1, K2, P2
Row 5: K1, P1, K2tog, P2
Row 6: K1, P1, K1, P2
Row 7: K1, P1, K1, P2tog
Row 8: K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 9: K2tog, P2tog, repeat until end of round
Row 10: K1,P1, repeat until end of round.
Repeat rows 9 and 10 until 6 stitches remain. Switch onto double pointed needles as needed. Thread the remaining yarn through the six loops and tie off. Weave the ends into the hat.