"Daisy, have you see my Chocolate Beanie?"

 

One of the main reasons I learned to crochet and knit was so I could make geeky stuff. Stuff that you can wear in public that might give someone a flicker of recognition if they 'get the reference' so with that in mind I figured it was time to make a hat of legend, a hat that would call out to fans of awesome TV, a hat that would bring back happy memories of the late 1990s and spending way too much time in front of the Playstation playing Tomb Raider while listening to terrible house music. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you "Tim Bisley's Chocolate Beanie" from the TV Show "Spaced". 

Well OK, it's not the right colour and the 'chocolate' logo is WAY too big but as a first attempt it's not too bad, and I learned something new along the way - how to knit 'jogless' stripes so let's dig in and figure out how this thing is made. 

First, here's the chart for the 'chocolate' logo. It's not exactly difficult to figure out, it's basically very simple text with a couple of 2 row stripes either side of it...

Bear in mind that this pattern uses 100 cast on stitches so your design might need to wrap a little, hence me leaving a bit of a gap at the end of this design. Basically it's around 60 stitches wide depending on the size of the head you're making this for so you might have to start your design 'wrapping' again (which is what I did, I got about part way through the word 'late') or just fill in with some random stripes or other symbols, it's entirely up to you!

My hat pattern method

This hat can either be knitted 'in the round' or you can knit 'flat' and just join with a neat seam once you're done. I still consider myself a beginner knitter but I knit in the round on small sized joined needles and can just about squeeze 100 stitches onto my set for a medium sized hat (scale up to 110 if someone has a bigger bonce, or scale down by 20-30 stitches if you're knitting for a kid). 

Cast on the required number of stitches onto your round needles, then add a stitch marker after the last cast-on stitch. This helps you to identify the start / end of the round knitting, and will come in useful once you start your crown shaping and decreases later on. Joining knitting for in the round is as simple as this

A) Cast on the required stitches plus one extra

B) Slip a stitch from your left needle over to your right needle

C) Pass a stitch from your right needle over that left needle slipped stitch and cast it off

D) Begin knitting as below...

I find this method of joining in the round to be the most intuitive. Be careful not to twist your work at this point (yes I know, it's very difficult!) and try to keep all the stitches facing 'into the circle' of your needle as you knit the initial rows. 

1) Initial 15 rows - K2P2 Rib in your main colour (for accuracy, khaki green or olive / dark green)

I don't always keep count but usually I end up knitting around 15 rows of K2P2 knit stitch (Knit 2, Purl 2) to give the hat a nice stretchy ribbed brim. You may find you like a larger brim that you can fold up and over (particularly if you're working with DK or finer yarn - I'm using Aran or Chunky weight here).

2) 2 rows Purl (main colour)

I don't know why but I find 2 rows of purl at the end of a set of ribbed stitches 'divides' the hat nicely between the brim and the design. Again, it's entirely up to you but I think it gives your design a nice defined line between the rib stitch and your eventual knit stitch that you'll be using for the rest of the hat. 

3) Start your design rows (secondary colour with main colour woven in, Fair Isle Style!)

Despite the colours I used in the photo, Tim Bisley's hat was a sort of darkish khaki green with the lettering in lipstick red, so whatever colour you decide on for your main / secondary colours, it's time to bring in that secondary colour for the first two rows of the design (the stripe). 

I use the fair isle technique, as this makes the hat quite nice and warm and chunky, and though it uses more yarn, I carry the main colour across all stitches (rather than leaving huge ugly floats) but again it's entirely up to you whether you want to do this. 

Once you've worked the initial 2 rows in knit stitch with your secondary colour, knit two more rows with your main colour, and then it's time to begin the design proper!

4) Work the design right to left with the inside out (on round needles)

Again this is personal preference but when knitting fair isle on round needles there's no need to swap hands or turn your work so make sure that your fair isle carried stitches are on the OUTSIDE of your round needles as you work, to avoid leaving floats or wrapped stitches on the inside and outside by accident (been there, done that!)

I work the design right to left, beginning with the bottom row for the E, leaving a 2 stitch gap between letters, and then continuing along and alternating between the secondary colour and the main colour. I am self taught so my fair isle technique is probably completely wrong but I tend to wrap the yarn together with a twist before each stitch, then wrap it the opposite way for the next stitch and so on, right across the work. 

As I said above, once you reach the first letter ("C") in the design, you can either begin again with the chart above from the E, leave a gap with the main colour, or insert some stripes or random design elements to suit!)

Continue working in the round to build up the lettering design following the chart. If you're working 'flat', the method I usually use is to double up the height of the lettering, effectively knitting one row with the design, then purling the same stitches for the design on the return row (this is the only way I know to keep a Fair Isle design 'consistent' but you may have your own workarounds or methods that work best for you!)

5) Once the design is finished, begin your decrease rows.

Again there are many different methods to 'shape' the crown of a hat, and this one works for me so it's the method I tend to use the most. 

Given a design with 100 stitches in it, I begin my decrease rows like this: 

First decrease row: Knit 10, K2TOG until end of row

Second decrease row: Knit all stitches

Once those are out of the way, I basically alternate decrease rows (reducing the number of knit stitches before a K2TOG by 2 stitches every time) with knitted rows, purely to keep the hat nice and tight, but still nicely shaped towards the crown. 

So if I was writing it out, It'd go like this

Decrease Row 1: Knit 10, K2TOG in the main colour

Decrease Row 2: Knit all stitches

Decrease Row 3: Knit 8, K2TOG

Decrease Row 4: Knit all stitches

Decrease Row 5: Knit 6, K2TOG

Decrease Row 6: Knit all stitches

Decrease Row 7: Knit 4, K2TOG

Decrease Row 8: Knit all stitches

Decrease Row 9: Knit 2, K2TOG

Decrease Row 10: Knit all stitches

Decrease Row 11:  K2TOG all around

Decrease Row 12: Knit all stitches

At this point you should be down to a reasonable number of stitches to begin the tricky bit....!

Closing up the hat

Again there are so many methods of doing this but by now you should have around 8-10 stitches left on your needles. Snip off your yarn to a decent length and thread a darning needle with it. You now need to pass that needle through all of the stitches on your knitting needles until you've got them all (be very careful at this point because any dropped stitches will show up as holes, eek!)

Once done, unthread your round needles from the yarn leaving it hanging on the yarn you just threaded your darning needle through with. 

Begin to pull the hat closure gently together, working around the hole until it closes up into a nice tight knot. Pass your darning needle through to the "Wrong" side of the hat, and bind off fairly tightly to ensure the closure stays closed (a bit like a draw string bag). 

Congratulations! All being well, your chocolate beanie is ready to wear!!