Knitting: plaid beanie

Knitting: plaid beanie

Pattern: basic beanie with plaid technique from Webs (see here)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light (1 skein MC: oceanic mix partial skeins in two CC: turquoise mix, mahogany mix)
Needle: 3.25mm (US 3) 16″ circular & 3.5mm (US 4) 16″ circular + DPNs

plaid

I was just in a hat knitting mood, last week. I was cleaning my bedroom and found the envelope with my my leftover skeins of Ultra Alpaca Light from Andrew’s sweater, so I figured I should make him a matching hat. I was leaning toward some sort of colorwork, but when I found this plaid technique, I knew that was it.

It was super easy! Especially because I already know how to crochet. The vertical lines are made with surface crochet, so it’s basically just a chain through the purl stitches.

If you want to make a beanie with this yarn (fits sizes 5-8, but I can put it on MY head pretty comfortably), here are my details:

With smaller needle and your MC, CO 110 stitches, place marker, and join to work in the round.

Work a [K1, P1] twisted rib (knit through the back loops) for 10 rounds.
Switch to larger needle and work an increase round of [K 11, m1] around. (120 st)

For all rounds until you get to the crown decreases, you will work this pattern:

[K 10, P 1, K 3, P 1] around.

The color pattern is: 4 rounds MC, then [1 round CC-1, 2 rounds MC, 1 round CC-2, 10 rounds MC] repeated from [ to ].

Work to about 6.5″, ending at the start of the 8th row of a chunk of MC.

Maintaining the color pattern only, work the crown as follows-
Round 1 (MC): *SSK, K 6, K2tog, P 1, K 3, P 1; Rep from * around. (104)
Round 2 (MC) and 3 (CC-1): K the knit stitches, P the purls.
Round 4 (MC): *SSK, K 4, K2tog, P1, K 3, P 1; Rep from * around. (88)
Round 5 (MC) and 6 (CC-2): K the knit stitches, P the purls.
The rest of the rounds are in the MC only.
Round 7: *SSK, K 2, K2tog, P 1, K 3, P 1; Rep from * around. (72)
Round 8: K the knit stitches, P the purls.
Round 9: *K 4, P 1, K3tog; Rep from * around. (56)
Round 10: K the knit stitches, P the purls.
Round 11: *SSK, K2tog, P 1, K 1; Rep from * around. (40)
Round 12: K the knit stitches, P the purls.
Round 13: K2tog around. (20)
Round 14: K2tog around. (10)

Cut yarn, leaving 12″ tail- thread through remaining stitches, and cinch shut. Weave in ends.

I cut each CC after the CC rounds instead of letting them travel up. You use a crochet hook to slip-stitch in the little valleys left by the purl stitches. I have CC-2 on the left of CC-1, but you could do the opposite. I had to use a 5mm (US-8 H) hook to get the right tension. The smaller hook resulted in chains that were too tight and bunched up a bit.

nate2

andrew3

andrew1

It fits my 8 year old like a regular beanie and it’s a little slouchy on my 5 year old. If I were making it for an adult, I’d work an extra repeat of the color pattern just to make it a bit taller to cover the ears. This one is just about 7.5-8″ un-stretched.

Have you every knit plaid? Don’t be intimidated by the crochet part! The slip-stitch is the simplest of the crochet stitches and the only thing utilized in surface crochet. You put your hook through the fabric where you want the stitch to be and then just pull a loop of yarn through. Keep it on your hook. Using your hand on the back of the fabric with your yarn around your finger (ala continental knitting) to keep your tension even, just put the hook back through the fabric at your next spot and pull another loop through the fabric and through the loop on your hook. Repeat that process until you’ve gone through all the stitches! With the sport weight yarn, I had to stretch the fabric to see where I had to slip stitch next, but it wasn’t a big deal and I finished it pretty quickly.

If you’ve tried it, let me know! Show me your projects!

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