Slumberland

I was thinking about making a Santa hat. Didn’t have the right yarn on hand, didn’t have time to go to the yarn shop. I wanted bulky yarn, with something that would make a nice woolly white part.

I was idly walking down the yarn aisle at Fred Meyer last night, where they generally only have icky yarn like Red Heart. Then something caught my eye. Red Heart, no less. Light and Lofty, a yarn that usually looks UG-LEE, but in the color “Puff”… well, it should have said “Santa Hat” all over it. It is fuzzy and woolly (in the 100% acrylic sense) and looks exactly like the white trim on a Santa hat. (I guess I will also use it to make bunny tails and such on some knitted bunnies I have planned.)

So then I needed a bulky red yarn that would not be as fuzzy and woolly looking as the Light and Lofty. There is very little to choose from at Fred Meyer, but the Lion Brand Homespun in Candy Apple was the perfect red, and seemed as if it would be a tolerable texture (though a little more textured than I wanted). So I bought them both and later that evening I had a hat! So here’s the pattern if you want to make a last minute Santa Hat too. (If you want to make the baby version, read on — it’s after the adult one.)

(Edited in Nov. 2007 to add some important notes — READ THESE!)

Important note: There are two methods included here — the quick and dirty triangle shape which takes no thought whatsoever, and makes a right-triangle shaped hat (the Adult pattern), and the more normal hat with evenly distributed decreases which requires one to count a bit (the Baby pattern). You can knit either hat for either size — just change the number of cast-on stitches. I recommend the Baby hat method, even for adults, as it makes a nicer shape. But the Adult hat is slightly faster.

Gauge note: The gauge given here, 2.5 stitches/inch, is using the Light and Lofty yarn around the brim. The Homespun gauge will probably be smaller, but in the hats I made, it didn’t matter.

Yardage note: I don’t know exact yardage, but it was very little. You should be able to make several hats from a skein of Light and Lofty, and at least a couple if not more from a skein of Homespun.

Size note: To make a hat for toddler or child size, you will have to extrapolate, as the baby size is designed for the smallest babies. Some folks have found that the baby hat comes out fairly small, so add some stitches to make this for larger babies, toddlers, etc.

Materials:

• 1 skein Red Heart Light & Lofty, “Puff” (you actually need much less than a full skein.)
• 1 skein Lion Brand Homespun, “Candy Apple” (much less needed)
• US 11 straight needles
• Yarn needle
• Pompom maker (or just use cardboard like I do)

The gauge is really hard to tell with the L&L; I just winged it and it turned out OK. Looks as if I was getting about 2.5 stitches/inch. The Homespun gauge is smaller but it didn’t seem to matter.

Cast on 44 stitches in the white yarn.
K all (garter stitch) for 1.5 - 2 inches, whichever you prefer.
Change to red yarn.
Knit stocking stitch until the cap is 4″ tall.

Decreasing:
* K1, SSK, K until 3 sts left, K 2 together, K1
P all
Repeat from * until you have decreased to 12 sts.
Break yarn, leaving about an 18″ tail, then pull the leftover yarn through the last stitches to make the tip of the hat. Sew up the seam down the back of the hat.

Make a pompom with the white yarn and attach it to the top of the hat.

Voila! Santa’s hat!

A note about the hat: by doing the decreases this way you end up with a hat that is a right triangle. This means that the hat is longer in the back. For a Santa hat that looks just fine. But if you want it to be more normal-shaped you just put the decreases all the way around instead of on the edge. The picture to the left is the baby version of the hat, which uses this method.

Baby Santa hat (Same materials used):

CO 32 sts
K all (garter stitch) for 1.5 - 2 inches, whichever you prefer.
Change to red yarn.
Knit stocking stitch until the cap is 4″ tall.
*K2, K2tog, repeat from * to the end of the row. (24 sts remain.)
P all.
K all.
P all.
K all.
P all.
*K1, K2tog, repeat from * to the end of the row. (16 sts remain.)
P all.
K all.
P all.
*K2tog, repeat from * to the end of the row. (8 sts remain.)
P all.
K all. (You can keep on in stocking stitch for as many rows as you like to make a floppy point,or just stop here.)

Break yarn, leaving about an 18″ tail, then pull the leftover yarn through the last stitches to make the tip of the hat. Sew up the seam down the back of the hat.

Make a pompom with the white yarn and attach it to the top of the hat.

Voila! Santa baby!

If you make one of these please send me the URL to your pictures so I can link to you here! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!