Pickle Hat

Creates a hat that is 20" in diameter. Fits a large baby or a small child.

Materials:
• I used about one and a half balls of Waterlily brand merino yarn in color #1972. You could use any yarn that would give you the size you wish.
• 16" circular needles,
• Size 8 circular needles and double pointed needles in the same size.
• Stitch markers
• Tapestry needle
• Crochet hook, just in case you drop a stitch like I did and don't want to start over. Twice.

Gauge is about 4 /12 stitches = one inch.

Instructions

Cast on 90 stitches on circular needle.

Knit in stockinette stitch until the brim of the hat curls up, about one inch. (What I found is that it actually wants to roll a bit more than I had thought, and you can see the bumps in the pattern at the edge. If I did it again, I would knit a bit farther up in stockinette). You could also do any kind of brim, I imagine, but the roll-edge is just so darn easy.

To create the main pattern
*Knit 9, purl 1*, repeat between *s all the way around. I placed markers between each of the nine sections to remind me when to purl.

As you go up the hat, work bobbles into the hat randomly, as you please. I tried to go for an asymmetrically balanced look so that it looked more like a cucumber and less like a perfect pattern.

To work a bobble, knit into the front, back, and front of the stitch. Turn the work and purl 3, turn back and knit 3, then turn once more and purl 3 again. Turn the work back to the front side, slip one stitch, knit two together, and pass the slipped stitch over.

If you're not sure how the bobble-making goes, there's a nice demo here, down the page a bit: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques. (She uses a different method, but it would work, too.)

Helpful hint: if the bobbles are close to the purl stitch rib, it tugs on the rib. They work better set two stitches or more in from the ribbing.

Continue the knit/purl pattern in the round until the hat reaches the crown of the head, about 6 inches, or to fit.

When it's the right height, place a marker at the start of the row (i.e., where the tail of your cast-on is) and begin decreasing.

To decrease
Sl 1, k1, psso (slip-stitch decrease), knit 8, purl 1 for one row. Repeat each row after, so that each row you are knitting fewer stitches. Switch to the double-pointed needles when the circular needles become too long for the stitches, knitting three sections each on to each needle.

When you have only nine stitches left total (3 on each needle), knit around as many rows as you like in stockinette stitch until the stem is long enough for you, then knit two stitches together one round, run yarn through remaining stitches and tie off, tucking in your ends. (I say nine stitches, but I actually had eleven because I screwed up *somewhere*, but I'd like to think if I did it again I'd do it perfectly and it would be perfect and I wouldn't have to admit how much I messed up. But check it, the hat looks great, regardless, right?)

The ribbed-veggie look is based on this pattern: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/hats/pumpkin-hat.htm.