I find knitting hats a great way to use up those single hanks of fingering weight sock yarn purchased at a yarn shop or at a craft festival. Although I could use these single hanks of sock yarn for knitting socks, I much prefer to knit hats, shawlettes or cowls with them. Hats are useful in keeping our heads warm, make wonderful gifts, are small enough projects to be knit quickly, and a great way to learn and explore the different knit stitch patterns and techniques.

I named this hat “The Wistful Hat” because I purchased the yarn a few years back from a yarn shop I had newly found but regrettably it is no longer there now. The Wistful Hat is knit bottom up and in the round. It’s knit holding two strands of the same yarn together with a simple textured knit stitch pattern for the body and crown shaping in stockinette stitch. The brim of the hat can be folded for extra warmth. 

Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn® Happy Feet 100 in color 0110 or any other colorway of choice
Knitting Needles: US #4 and US #5 circular needles for knitting the hat and US #6 knitting needles for the cable cast on 
Tapestry needle to weave in ends
Gauge:  6 stitches /  8.75 rows per inch in stockinette stitch with US #4 knitting needles
Size: Adult M/L 
Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
pm: place marker
rm: remove marker
sm: slip marker
BOR: beginning of round
Ktbl: knit through the back loop
K2tog: Knit the two stitches on the left needle together
[ ]: stitch pattern repeats

The Wistful Hat Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

The brim of the hat:

• Cast on 128 stitches with two strands of yarn held together using the cable cast on method and with US #6 knitting needles. 
• Transfer the stitches to US #4 circular knitting needles, place a BOR marker and join the round making sure the yarn is not twisted.
  
• Knit in 1 x 1 rib stitch pattern (K1,P1) for 32 rounds or about 4 inches.
  

The body of the hat:

• Change to US #5 circular needles and begin the textured stitch pattern as follows:
  • Round 1: [Ktbl, P1] repeat [ ] till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 2: Knit till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 3: [P1, Ktbl] repeat [ ] till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 4: Knit till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
• Repeat Rounds 1 to 4 six more times and then knit
  • Round 1: [Ktbl, P1] repeat [ ] till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 2: Knit till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 3: [P1, Ktbl] repeat [ ] till BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 4: [K16, pm] repeat [ ] 6 more times, K16, slip BOR marker

The crown shaping of the hat:

• Change to US #4 circular knitting needles and knit for the crown shaping
  • Round 1: [Knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, sm] repeat [ ] 6 more times, knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, slip BOR marker
  • Round 2: [Knit to marker, sm] repeat [ ] 6 more times, knit till BOR marker, slip BOR marker

• Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 five more times (80 stitches) and then knit the following rounds
  • Round 1: [K3, K2tog, pm, K3, K2tog, sm] repeat [ ] 6 more times, K3, K2tog, pm, K3, K2tog, slip BOR marker
  • Round 2: [Knit to marker, sm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, knit to BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 3: [K2, K2tog, sm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, K2, K2tog, slip BOR marker
  • Round 4: [Knit to marker, sm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, knit to BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 5: [K1, K2tog, sm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, K1, K2tog, slip BOR marker
  • Round 6: [Knit to marker, sm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, knit to BOR marker, slip BOR marker
  • Round 7: [K2tog, rm] repeat [ ] 14 more times, K2tog, slip BOR marker
  • Round 8: Knit to BOR marker, slip BOR marker 
  • Round 9: K2tog till BOR marker, remove the BOR marker (8 stitches remaining)
  • Break about 6 inches of the working yarn and thread it through a tapestry needle. Pass the tapestry needle with the working yarn into the remaining stitches, pull tight and secure yarn.

• Weave in the ends and wash the hat.

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~coffeeteaknits