Will Needs a Hat

But, knitting one he is willing to wear can be a challenge. For William, the simpler the better. He's nine years old, so very few stitch patterns would be acceptable and certainly pom-poms and i-cords are out. So, this morning, after he caught his bus to school, I whipped this up in about 4 hours. Anyone ever write a pattern on the back of a Food Lion receipt? The process was pretty simple. Will's head is about 18 " around. My guage is 3 sts/inch on a size 11 needle with this yarn. So I subtracted 2"( 6 sts.) for negative ease and cast on 48 sts. on size 10 1/2 needle. I worked 2" in k2, p2 ribbing. Then, I switched to size 11 needles and knit in stockinette stitch until entire piece measured 5 1/2". Then, I decreased every 4 sts. with a k2tog. decrease, purled back and decreased every other row 1 less stitch (k3, k2tog/k2, k2tog/k1, k2tog) and finally, k2tog to end. (This kind of decrease makes a swirled crown) I cut the yarn and pulled it through all loops left on needle and seamed up the hat. Done. Looks like it will fit, but remains to be seen whether William will actually wear it.

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Chunky, Color 240.
Needle: Size 10 1/2 straight and size 11 straight (I knit back and forth on my Denise circulars)
Gauge: 3 sts./inch on the size 11 needle.