Striped Beanie

There is nothing nicer on a cold day than a comfortable warm hat that is long enough to keep your ears warm. I love knitting hats. They are such a enjoyable project to cast on, as they’re quick and easy and the perfect accessory to knit after finishing a larger garment. The Striped Beanie is a perfect hat to knit for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

The Striped Beanie is knit using Debbie Bliss Rialto DK 100% merino wool. Rialto DK is a smooth soft wool that gives clear definition to the stripes. It can be knit up quickly and is a great way of using up leftover yarn from other projects. Using DK weight yarn the hat will be finished and off the needles in no time!

Colour Inspiration

My inspiration for the colours in this hat came from a photograph that I took when I visited Shetland a few years ago. It is of the Shetland Museum in Lerwick, where Neil and I spent many happy hours, wandering around looking at the displays of fair isle knitwear (in my case) and eating the most delicious shortbread…

I often create colour schemes from one of my photographs and then I use this as a starting point. The colours chosen will often be slightly darker, cooler, brighter etc than the inspiration but it helps me make the initial decision about how I want the colours to look together. I left out the marine blue from this colour combination and used a richer camel colour and a deeper mid grey.

I’ve shown the amount of yarn that I used for each of the 4 colours but this could be different for you if you are substituting the Rialto DK for a different DK weight wool or if you decide to make the body of the hat longer to give some slouchiness. The random striped sequence allows for smaller quantities of yarn to be easily substituted.

This pattern is in one size. It was created as a gift for my brother-in-law a couple of years ago.

Striped Beanie

Materials:

Yarn:

Debbie Bliss Rialto DK has 105m/50g and I’ve used 4 colours.

• Main Colour: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK  039 Teal (29g)
• Contrast Colour 1: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK  019 Sea Foam (12g)
• Contrast Colour 2: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK  029 Camel (10g)
• Contrast Colour 3: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK 033 Mid Grey (13g)

Needles:

• 4.0 mm Clover Takumi Bamboo Circular 40 cm Needles
• 4.5 mm Clover Takumi Bamboo Circular 40 cm Needles
• 4.5 mm Clover Takumi Bamboo Double Pointed Needles
• 6 stitch markers
• tapestry needle

Tension:

My tension knitting in the round measured on stocking stitch after blocking using 4.5 mm bamboo circular needle is 23 sts x 28 rows = 10cm x 10cm (4″ x 4″).

The finished hat has a circumference of 50cm/20″ after blocking and fits a 55cm/22″ head very comfortably. It is nicely stretchy with the k2, p2 ribbed brim.

Abbreviations:

BOR: beginning of round

k: knit

k2tog: knit 2 stitchess together (decreases 1 stitch)

st(s): stitch(es)

Brim

With Main Colour 039 Teal, using a stretchy cast on such as the long tail cast on, loosely cast on 100 stitches using the 4.0 mm Clover takumi bamboo circular 40 cm needle. Place a stitch marker at the start of the round to mark the beginning of each round (BOR).

• K2, p2 rib for 16 rounds (5cm/2″).

Body of Hat

Change to 4.5mm circular needle.  Work the randomly striped sequence as listed below.

• Knit 1 round using main colour 039 Teal.
• Knit 2 rounds using contrast colour 1 019 Sea Foam.
• Knit 3 rounds using contrast colour 2 029 Camel.
• Knit 5 rounds using contrast colour 3 033 Mid Grey.
• Knit 2 rounds using contrast colour 2 029 Camel.
• Knit 3 rounds using main colour 039 Teal.
• Knit 5 rounds using contrast colour 1 019 Sea Foam.
• Knit 2 rounds using contrast colour 2 029 Camel.
• Knit 3 rounds using contrast colour 3 033 Mid Grey.
• Knit 3 rounds using main colour 039 Teal.

Shaping the Crown

Continue using main colour 039 Teal

• Round 1: knit
• Round 2: *(k7, k2tog) twice, place stitch marker* repeat from * to * ( you should now have 6 stitch markers, I normally use a distinctive marker for the BOR). Each time you reach a stitch marker slip the marker.

Change to contrast colour 1 019 Sea Foam

• Round 3 & 4: knit

Change to contrast colour 2 029 Camel

• Round 5: (k6, k2tog) 12 times
• Round 6 & 7: knit

Change to contrast colour 3 033 Mid Grey

• Round 8: (k5, k2tog) 12 times
• Round 9 & 10: knit
• Round 11: (k4, k2tog) 12 times
• Round 12: knit

Change to contrast colour 2 029 Camel

• Round 13: knit
• Round 14: (k3, k2tog) 12 times

Change to contrast colour 1 019 Sea Foam

• Rounds 15 & 16: knit
• Round 17: (k2, k2tog) 12 times

Change to main colour 039 Teal

• Rounds 18 & 19: knit
• Round 20: (k1, k2tog) 12 times
• Round 21: knit (remove the stitch markers during this round)
• Round 22: (k2tog) 12 times

Change to contrast colour 3 033 Mid Grey

• Round 23: knit
• Round 24: (k2tog) 6 times

Finishing

Using the tapestry needle and the mid grey tail, gather the remaining 6 stitches tightly, then sew in the yarn end securely.  Sew in all the other yarn ends.

I washed and blocked my hat over a blown up balloon. I blow the balloon up and measure it to make sure that I shall be blocking the hat to the correct size. I prefer to have the balloon about 18-19″ in diameter as I don’t want to over stretch the hat. What I’m doing when I block a hat is to even out the knitted stitches and smooth the crown.

Gently pull the hat over the balloon so that the top of the crown is smoothed over the top of the balloon and set the balloon into a small pyrex bowl. Ensure that the ribbing on the brim isn’t stretched out of shape.

Buy Debbie Bliss Rialto DK in the Knitting Squirrel’s Yarn Shop.

I hope that you have fun knitting the Striped Beanie and would love to see you versions and the colour choices that you use.