My 3AM Cable Hat

I finally knit a hat for myself. And it fits nicely, a little loose, with enough extra brim to pull it down to cover my ears more when it's colder. I finished it this morning, weaved in the ends (yes, I'm trying to be good about doing this right after I finish something, instead of letting it sit around for weeks), and wore it when M & I took a little walk around the neighborhood. I put M in her stroller, and she did something she seldom does in the stroller ... she fell asleep!!! I got a half hour nap out of her. Now our day is a bit screwed up with her nap happening before lunch. What am I going to do with her for the rest of the day?

Anyways, the hat is definitely warm. I'm beginning to suspect that I might have a slight sensitivity to wool. My usual winter hat is a felted wool hat, and it makes my forehead itch a little bit. I thought it was just that hat. But after wearing this 3AM Cable Hat I just finished knitting, I experienced the same thing! This purple hat is made of superwash wool. I guess that makes no difference in the itch factor. ???

Here's what it looks like with the brim unfolded:



Here's what it looks like with the brim folded up:



The hat looks a little "peaked" doesn't it? It just came out that way when I designed it. I wanted to keep the cable pattern going up to the very top, and that's just how it worked out. I supposed it would have been easier to let the cables stop right where I start the decrease, but I didn't think it would look as good that way.

Will have to add more later ... M is fussing about being stuck in her high chair. Guess she finished her apple...

Ok, I'm back.... :-)

My 3AM Cable Hat was originally designed with Worsted Weight yarn. This purple one is knit with lighter DK weight yarn, 2 balls of Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply superwash wool (Per ball: 50 gm/1.75 oz; 96 m /105 yds; 22 st/4 inches 4.0 mm/US6) . I love this yarn, and wished I had bought more of it.

Here's what I did to knit my purple hat, using DK weight yarn:

- I took my 3AM Cable Hat pattern and cast on 108 stitches using US 6 (4.0 mm) needles.
- I did K2P2 ribbing for 3 inches; I would do this for anywhere between 1 inch and 3 inches, it depends on what kind of brim you like.
- Then I knitted Rounds 1 through 8, five times; you would want to adjust this depending on how long you made your K2P2 ribbing, and how you like your brim to be (fold-up or non-fold-up).
- Then I did the decrease. When I got to decrease round 18 (repeating round 17, doing SSK again), I had 9 stitches left on my needles. I cut off the yarn, threaded through the remaining stitches, then weaved in the ends. My hat is a ladies small size.

Hope this helps anyone who might want to make this hat using DK weight yarn instead of WW yarn. If you need to make it larger, try casting on 120 stitches; you may need to play around with the number of times you knit rounds 1-8.


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