Squishy Hat For A Boy

It has been a while since I knit anything for my son, Prithvi and when he mentioned this fact to me last week, I felt a humungoid pang of guilt!!  Determined to remedy this sad truth I cast on for a hat using some 100% alpaca yarn from Aslan Trends.  If you’re looking for a soft yarn, this is definitely cloud-soft!!

I knew that garter stitch would be ideal and so I went on a Ravelry hat hunt.  I came across a pattern that I thought fit the bill perfectly called the Rikke Hat. Of course, I knew that I would have to modify this quite heavily to make it guy friendly and also the my yarn was a different weight than what the pattern called for.  So essentially, I would have to knit this with no road map.

We settled in to watch some PVR-ed shows and I cast on.  I used the Twisted German cast on (heart!!) and got something like 86 stitches when I ran out of yarn on the tail*.  Looking back, this was my perfect cast on number.  I used smaller needles to knit the garter stitch brim for about 1.5 inches and then switched to larger needles to knit the body of the hat in a staggered 2×2 rib.

When I gave Prithvi his new slouchy hat, he rolled his eyes and said, “Mom, it’s an oversized beanie.  Slouchy hats are for girls!!”  Fashion lesson from my preteen, haha!

Squishy Hat For A Boy (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: Based on the Rikke Hat
Yarn: Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in “Grey”
Needles: Size US 7 & 8 / 4.5 & 5 mm

 * If you’re planning to use this cast-on for a project that requires a stretchy edge, use a tail that’s three times as long as your usual long tail because this cast-on gobbles up that tail pretty quick. 

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Family, Finished Knits, Hats, Kids, Yarn. This post has 6 comments.