Lady in Pink (free knitted hat pattern)

Lady in Pink

I have created Lady in Pink for my second daughter that was born a month earlier than expected. I wanted to create something easy to knit that could be easily customized for both babies and older children. That's why I added some notes on how to cast on different size as well as on how to calculate the decrease. The pattern will work with any yarn or needle size. All you have to do is find out how many stitches to cast on.

Yarn used: Drops Muskat

Needles: 4mm

Head Circumference: 40 cm

Gauge: 22 stitches x 29 rows (Drops gauge is 21x28)

Note: all instruction between *xxx* should be repeated until the end of the given row.

Casting on

Cast on DPNs 72 stitches. In case of other circumference than 40 cm or when using different yarn, remember to cast on only multiples of 6, so that you can decrease the hat as described below. As you can see from the gauge, there are 2,2 stitches per 1 cm - the cast on should be 84 stitches. After ripping out one hat, I know that 80 is too much. I've noticed that yarns usually have some ease and because of that you can't take the gauge too seriously (mainly for hats). Nevertheless, the gauge is some kind of a lead that tells you how much it could be. The result mostly depends on tension of your knitting. The best way to find out your gauge is to knit your gauge swatch and when you want to ensure a perfect fit, use one size smaller needles for the ribbing.

Ribbing

Work the ribbing (knit 2, purl 2) for as many rows as needed (6 rows).

Body of the hat

Now knit body of the hat using the following pattern that consists of 4 rows:

1. row - knit all

2. row - knit all

3. row - knit all

4. row - *knit one, purl one*

Decreasing (crown of the hat)

Repeat the pattern utill you reach the point when you want to start decreasing your stitches (the hat measures 12 cm, the desired total lenght of it is 13,5cm).

Here you will have to do a little bit of math. I know that my gauge using Drops Muskat yarn is 3 rows per 1 cm (or 7,5 stitches per inch). Every round 12 stitches will be decreased (2 in every part of the hat).

• Divide the stitches into 6 even parts (72/6 =12).
• Deduct 4 stitches (12-4=8). This is the distance between two decreases.
• As I am going to decrease 8 rows, it will be almost 2cm decrease.

The decrease logic is following: 

1. *knit 2 together, knit 8 stitches, knit 2 together (from the back)* - repeat 5 more times.
2. knit all
3. *knit2tog, knit 6 stitches, knit2tog (from the back)* - repeat 5 more times.
4. *knit one, purl one*
5. knit2tog, knit 4 stitches, knit2tog (from the back)* - repeat 5 more times.
6. knit all
7. knit2tog, knit 2 stitches, knit2tog (from the back)* - repeat 5 more times.
8. knit2tog, knit2tog (from the back)* - repeat 5 more times.

The bold numbers will depend on what you calculated above (starting with your number, decreasing by 2 stitches in each row when knit2tog decrease is made).

Waive in ends. 

Happy knitting:-)