Knitwear for men.

Here's the pattern.

Picture and idea stolen from Justin, his blog entry here.

The G.ee W.hiz I geuss it's a Bush hat

Start with an idea but no real plan as to how to make it work.

Size 8 U.S. Needles/ 5mm

Cascade 220 yarn.

Cast on 108 stitches.

Join into a round and work k2, p2 ribbing for 2 inches/ 5cm twisting all the knit stitches. (knit through back of loop).

This yarn was originally a sock that I started and wasn't working out so well so I ripped it out and rewound it not bothering to take out the stripes.

In the hat the stripes didn't really work out all that great but let's not fix it, let's just keep going as if everything is okay. we didn't really have a plan to start with so just keep going.

Begin pattern rows;

Row 1. Begins between the first 2 K stitches. Place a marker.

Bring the yarn forward, slip the next K stitch and P stitch onto the right needle, bring the left needle forward and through the k stitch, slip both stitches off the right needle letting the purl stitch dangle in mid air before catching it back up onto the right needle. insert left needle into P stitch and purl. Bring yarn to the back and K next stitch. (twisted, ktbl)

Now slip the next p stitch and K stitch onto the right needle, bring left needlebehind the work and through the P stitch, slip them off the right needle letting the K stitch dangle before catching it up with the right needle. Insert left needle and K this stitch, p1. Repeat to end of round.

Row 2. knit or Purl the stitches as they are. All Knit stitches are still twisted.

Row 3. P1, cross the 2 k stitches and knit them similar to above instructions, P1. Repeat to end of round.

Row 4. Repeat row 2.

Row 5. as row 1 but the K and P stitches move in opposite directions.

Keep repeating these 4 rows until you have about 5 inches/ 12 cm

Doesn't that make a lovely trellis pattern?

Now it's time to start the decreases.

Decide that you cast on 100 stitches, DO NOT go back and count.

100 divides well by 4, but is 4 decreases per round enough? Probably not. 100 doesn't divide by 6 but it does divide by 5. Pentagonal is good! okay every 20 stitches k 2 together, or in my case it happened to be P 2 together.

Hmmm... there are extra stitches at the end of the round. Do NOT go back and fix it, just keep going as if everything is okay. Decrease every other round staying in Pattern as much as possible, don't worry that it's not really working out evenly or well. Fumble forward! When you have 70 stitches left on the needles you'll realize that you're very confused and your lovely trellis is a mess. Don't stop and fix anything. Go back to your friend the pentagon, forget about the Trellis pattern you intended, knit all stitches twisted, you started with twisted stitches and by golly you're going to finish with the twisted stitches, decreasing evenly 5 stitches per round every round until you have 5 stitches left.

Break off yarn, thread it through the remaining 5 stitches pull tail through to the inside and weave it in. weave in the cast on tail and you're finished.

The most important thing to remember with this hat is to never acknowledge the bad judgement calls, ignore erorrs, don't fix anything, just keep going as if everything is okay.