Don't Let the Pigeon Wear Your Hat

We're a little obsessed with Mo Willems around here. We've got almost all the Pigeon books, a few Elephant and Piggy books, and several late fees from the library for all the other ones we borrow. Ro's third birthday party was a Pigeon-themed Hot Dog party. We spent a Saturday last month at the Eric Carle museum accosting Elephant and Piggy.

And I can't seem to stop knitting Pigeon hats.

And Duckling hats.

And Pigeon dolls.

Mostly because people won't stop ordering them. And asking for them. They were my first sale on Etsy.

I do love that I am contributing financially to our family's budget ... or at least funding my yarn shopping allowance.

Spiral Ribbed Hat

Spiral Ribbed Hat

"Because normal ribbed hats are boring."

**UPDATE -- I am so amazed and honored that SO MANY people have come to this page (almost 3,000 at this time), viewed my pattern, and actually USED it to make hats! I feel like a ROCK STAR!!! With so many people coming read this, if you come across any typos and ways that something could be explained more clearly, please leave a comment below. Happy knitting!!!**


Size: Adult female, about 22" around (more sizes coming someday ... if you want to figure out the math and just tell me, I'll give you a shout-out!)

Materials:
16" Size 6 circular needles
4x Size 6 double-pointed needles
About 140-160 yards (80-85) grams Worsted Weight yarn

Stitch marker

Gauge:
(gauge is measured over the brim rib, with the rib relaxed, NOT stretched).
6.5 Stitches = 1 inch
7 Rows = 1 inch

Terms:
Slant Left: Insert right needle into the second stitch on the left needle (this is "Stitch #1) BEHIND the first stitch (this is the "Slant Stitch"). Slip both Stitch #1 and the Slant Stitch off the needle. Slip the Slant Stitch back onto the left needle, then slip Stich #1 back into the left needle. Knit or purl that st (according to rib) and then knit the slant stitch. The stitches are now flipped, with the Slant Stitch passing in front of Stitch #1, and will look like a cable slanting to the left.

(That's right, I made a tutorial video. I'm bad-ass.)

SSK: Slip Slip Knit. Slip one stitch knit-wise, then slip the next st knit-wise. Insert left needle into the front loops of the slipped stitches and knit them together from through the back loops.

P2Tog: Purl 2 Together. Purl two stitches together as if they were a single stitch.

Instructions:
On circular needles, cast on 100 st (I like the Rib Cable Cast-On for ribbed hats). Place marker and join (be sure to not twist the stitches).

Rib [K1, P1] around for about 2.5 inches, or the desired length of brim. End last round at marker.

Set up for spiral:

K1, SSK, [p1, k1] for 9 st, *[k2, (p1, k1) for 9 st] rep from * around to marker (99 st).

Note: In every other set of 11 st, the ribbing will not match the previous ribbing. That's ok, because it will be hidden by the turned up brim.

Begin spiral:

K1, Slant Left, rib for 9 st (follow the rib established in the previous round), *[Slant left, rib for 9 st], repeat from * around, always following the rib from the previous round (which will change from k1p1 to p1k1 every other round.

Note: you will have to shift the marker to the left after a few rounds, as the spirals shift the beginning of the round to the left.

Continue pattern until hat measures about 6" from turn up, ending before one st before the first slant of a new round (the slant that changes from crossing a knit st to crossing a purl st).

Begin decrease:

Note: the decrease st will follow the rib pattern. We will decrease the st that crosses BEHIND the slant st, so the decrease will happen BEFORE the slant. Because decreasing stitches changes the rib pattern, AND because slanting changes the rib pattern, AND because we decrease every other round for hats, this decease is worked in sets of 4 rounds.

Decrease Round A:
(the previous round ended one st before the Slant Stitch)
Slip st knit-wise onto right needle (this is "Stitch #1")
Insert right needle into the second st (this is "Stitch #2) on the left needle BEHIND the Slant stitch. Slip both Stitch #2 and the Slant stitch off the needle. Slip the Slant Stitch back onto the left needle, but leave Stitch #2 on the right needle. Insert left needle into the front of Stitch #2 and Stitch #1 (both on the right needle), and k2tog through back loop. This acts like a SSK decrease (which slants left, along with our slant). 

Knit Slant stitch.
Continue rib until 1 st before next slant.
Repeat around, ending at first slant of next round.

Decrease Round B (no decrease):
Slant left, making sure to continue the rib established on the right needle (which is different from the rib established in the previous round; in this round, we PURL the stitch that was crossed over).

Continue rib until next slant. Repeat around, ending 1 st before the first slant of next round.

Decrease Round C:
Slip st purl-wise onto the right needle (this is "Stitch #1"). Insert right needle into the second st in the left needle (this is Stitch #2) BEHIND the slanted stitch. Slip both the Stitch #2 and the slanted stitch off the needle. Slip the slanted stitch back onto the left needle. Insert left needle into the back of Stitch #2 and Stitch #1 (both on the right needle), then p2tog.

Knit slanted st.
Continue rib until 1 st before next slant.
Repeat around, end at first slant of next round.

Decrease Round D (no decrease):

Slant left, making sure to continue the rib established on the right needle (in this round, we KNIT the stitch that was crossed over). This is the same as a normal Slant Left.

Continue rib until next slant. Repeat around, ending 1 st before the first slant of next round.

Repeat rows A, B, C, and D (make sure you keep track of which row you're on, in case you put it down and forget). Switch to double-pointed needles when there are too few stitches for the circular needles (about 54 st).

Repeat rows until there are 18 st left, ending at first slant of next round.
SSK around (9 st)

Cut yarn leaving a tail. Thread tail through remaining st and pull tight.

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Don't have time to knit this awesome hat? Want to just buy it? ;)

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Hope you enjoy! If you find any errors or typos, please leave a comment.

This original pattern is presented free of charge and is for person use only. 

Please do not sell anything made from this pattern.

Images and Text (C) 2014, Tough Love Knitters.

Holiday Gift Roundup

My holiday gifts did not go quite as I had planned. Who would've thought that uprooting my entire life would have gotten in the way of my hobby?!

Dad's Fisherman's Rib Hat.

Pros:
It's super squishy and really warm.

Cons:
It's sort of big and used A LOT of yarn.
Because I did it in the round, there is a seam where I switched from K1b to P1b. While this does hold the two layers of the hat together, the tension got a little weird around that spot and it sort of looks like there's a hole.
The decreases aren't as fancy as I wanted. Problem: the Brioche Stitch (Fisherman's Rib) can be done two ways ... either you Yarn Over on one row and then decrease on the next row, or you knit or purl into the previous row's stitch. It ends up looking the same, and because I was doing it in the round, it made sense to just knit into the previous row on every row (alternating between knitting below and purling below). However, all the decrease instructions I found used the Yarn Over technique. So I just ended up doing a SSK with three stitches at a time, slipping the stitch below just as would have knitted the stitch below. I did this every other row; on alternating rows, I did a normal purl stitch below. It turned out ok, maybe a little sharper than normal because I was decreasing 2 stitches every other row, instead of decreasing 1. But it was so squishy that I don't think it mattered.

(also, again, I can't seem to find the good pictures. I KNOW I took pictures with the good camera, and now I don't know where they went. Grrr.)


Mom C's House Slippers

Mom was actually the only one to receive slippers. I ended up not having enough time for the other ladies in my life, though I promised that they would get them eventually.


Jess's Spiral Rib Hat

This turned out really good. (The one in the picture is actually my test version of this; Jess's version had a brim). I'm going to do a pattern post for it as soon as I take some tutorial pictures of the stitch.


Eleanor's Play Food

These come out SO GOOD!!! I think I'm going to make some more for Rowan. My favorite is the broccoli.


Emily and Zoe's Headbands

These came out really cute. I hope they like them. (I didn't end up finishing the Lattice Garden Scarf like I had intended, but at least I got to use some of the flower patterns I found).


Finger Paintings 

(Credit goes here)

For the Grandparents,

Uncle Josh and Tia Wendy,

and Daddy.

Coloring Books for the kiddos

I took pictures from their parents' Facebook pages and turned them into coloring pages. (Tutorial here)

Chris made Gingerbread Coffee Syrup for all the coffee drinkers in the family. It was a great idea, until Rowan decided to hand out presents.

And a little something for myself ...

Post-Christmas Rush gifts for Rowan, Gipper, and Chris will follow. Ro needs a new hat, Gipper a new sweater, and Chris asked for a red scarf.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby was the most popular turkey at the table!

Big Bang Theory

So I am a huge fan of "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS . . . I basically married Sheldon. Every time we watch, there is some sort of geeky/star wars-y toy that the hubby adds to his wish list (their Periodic Table shower curtain can be found at thinkgeek.com, if anyone is wondering).

Last night, he and I were having dinner and culling through the DVR. We began watching an old episode of Big Bang where Penny and Leonard are decorating a Christmas tree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqiiCOFR0Y8

Penny is wearing the cutest Santa hat (with two tails like pig-tails). I stared thinking to myself, as I do on a daily basis, "I could knit that!".

I did a quick google image search and found this on someone's flickr:

Adorable!!!

Another few minutes on Ravelry.com, and lo and behold, there is a free pattern online!!!

http://nana-n-thecats.blogspot.com/2009/12/and-heres-pattern.html

What would I do without the internet?!