I developed this pattern because I wanted to make a cabled hat for myself (using some Malabrigo worsted that I had bought for that exact purpose), but I couldn't find a pattern I liked that called for worsted-weight yarn. I found several for chunky or bulky weight, but I figured that if I was going to do the work of adjusting the pattern for worsted, I might as well just write a pattern myself. So I did.
I call this hat "Compulsive Cables" because it's entirely cabled. There is no ribbed border at the brim of the hat, so the cables pull it out a little bit. There are two lengths of cables in the body: 4 rows tall and 6 rows tall. Why? Just because I could. If you are so inclined, it might be cool to make a hat where each cable is slightly taller than the next (4 rows tall, then 5 rows, then 6, etc.). Or you could make them all the same. If you want to eliminate the brim, you can do some ribbing at the start. (Just make sure that you pick a ribbing style that divides evenly into your stitch count.)
There is one thing that I would change if I knit this again, and that is the decreases at the crown. I think that it's possible to carry the cabling up a little closer to the very top of the hat, but once I finished knitting it and came to this conclusion, I had no interest in re-knitting the crown (which I had to knit several times). If you don't want to decrease at all, you can make a Scarf Rescue Hat by knitting a big tube without decreases, and then running the tail through all the stitches at the top (and securing very well). See "Knitting Rules," by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee for the official Scarf Rescue Hat recipe.
Please let me know if you find any errors—I tried to take very good notes, but it's possible that I missed something. I've included a lot of narrative explanation throughout this pattern, in hopes that it will be encouraging to beginning knitters and those who are pattern-shy. Don't be scared by the abbreviations, they are easy. And don't be scared of cabling. It looks like it's super-difficult, but it's not at all. (Easy + looks impressive = great!) If you've never worked with a circular needle or double-pointed needles (DPNs), take a look at your favorite knitting reference book, or check out the Advanced Knitting Techniques page at KnittingHelp.com. (Don't worry, it's really not advanced.) If you run into any trouble, feel free to email me at spinstah at gmail dot com. If you knit this, I'd love to post a picture, so send me a photo (or a link to one). If you're on flickr, tag it compulsivecables and this link here will pull all of them up.
I hate to swatch, but I highly recommend knitting a small cable swatch before you begin this project. I have provided stitch counts for exactly what I did, but the narrative description should help you convert this into a different size or gauge without much trouble. Why would you want to do this? Well, are you using a different yarn? Is your head smaller than mine? Does your gauge match mine? Wait, do I even provide my gauge for you, using any informatin other than that gleaned only from the swatch? Swatching will also help you to easily use cables that are a different width. And it'll help you get the hang of cabling before you jump into the hat. It's a small swatch. Don't worry.
As for yarn, the shade of Malabrigo that I chose is midnight blue and medium blue. I think the subtlety of the colorway complements the cables. Something with higher contrast might be too distracting, but what do I know? I'm sure someone will prove me wrong. Keep in mind that Malabrigo felts really well, so if this hat is intended for someone who is likely to throw it in the washer (or not wash it at all because they can't throw it in the washer) you'll want to pick up a superwash. I used the smallest size of needles that the yarn recommended, in order to make sure that there weren't holes around the cable twists. (This would be another reason to swatch.)
1/19/07:This is already being test-knit by the fabulous Knitting Librarian. Errors will be updated over the weekend. (She already found two, which have been corrected.)
This hat is made with six-stich cables separated by two stitches. Knit the following swatch to determine how many cables you need to fit the hat around the head for which it is intended. Please note: The hat itself is knit in the round, but the swatch is knit flat. To make the cable pattern work properly, there is a wrong side to the swatch. When you knit the hat itself—in the round—you'll always be working on the right side of the hat. This will make more sense when you see it happen. For now, trust me and start swatching.
For example:
Remember, I am giving you stitch counts only for exactly what I did. If your maths gave you a different number to cast on, or if you're not doing a 6-stitch left-twist cable with two stitches between, you will want to adjust these instructions. For the body of the hat, just cast on whatever number you came up with after the maths, and knit away in whatever your cable pattern is.
CAST ON: Using the circular needles, cast on 144 with whatever method you like. Since this hat has a cute brim, it doesn't need to be a stretchy cast-on.
You'll want to repeat rows 16-22 until your hat is almost tall enough. (I repeated the rows four times.) Near as I can tell, the body of my hat is about 6" tall, and the decreases took 3". (The hat is actually slightly too tall for me, but I wasn't about to rip it back again.) To figure out how tall to make your hat, you might like to do something I did not—take the hat off the needles and try it on.
Here's how: take your tapestry needle, thread it with some scrap yarn, and slip the stitches (and stitch marker!) from the knitting needle onto the tapestry needle and scrap yarn. When you've got the hat on the scrap yarn, put it on your head (or someone else's) and see what you think. Determine if it is too short (cold ears?), just right, or too long (can't see?). Eyeball (or measure) how much taller or shorter you want it to be, and compare that to how tall your rows are (measure from cable row to cable row). Then put the hat back on the circular needle, and knit some more of the pattern rows (or pull some out to make it shorter, and then put it back on the needle). This might seem finicky, but I "finished" the hat and then had to rip out all the decreases because it was too short.
I did some decreasing within the cables to try and carry the cable motif as high up the crown as I could. If you choose not to be involved with decreasing, just keep going along in Part 2.
Please note: I have restarted the row numbering in this section, do not panic. It is for my sanity and yours. You should also note that at some point you'll need to change to DPNs because the circular will be too big. I like to do this by knitting right onto the DPNs—just use a DPN as your right needle and the circular as your left. Some of the rest of this knitting can get a little tricky with DPNs, and I found it easier to use a cable needle in the remaining cabled rows, rather than try to do the no-cable-needle method.
Now your hat is all cables and has no purl breaks. We're going to decrease every other cable from 4 stitches to 2. I admit that this part got a little hard to follow, since there are no purl breaks to guide you. Carefully pay attention to what you're doing, and you'll be fine.
You should have 54 stitches if you are following my pattern exactly (meaning you cast on 144). If you have a different number (either because of a mistake or because you cast on a different number), you'll just have to stop and think for a minute. The basic goal is to have 5-10 stitches on the needles when you complete Row 15 below. Keep in mind that the more you decrease within each row, the flatter the top of your hat will be. (If you want a pointy top, knit a plain row between each decrease row.) Do a little bit of counting, working off of the instructions below, and you'll figure something out pretty quickly. (This is another good time to take a look at your favorite knitting reference book, or to whip out "Knitting Rules" and look at the chapter on hats.
If you like, you could modify this part to carry the four stitch cables farther up the crown. (You'll want to cable on Row 11 if that's the case.) I knit up this part plain, and then thought to myself that this could be done, but didn't feel like ripping it out again (that would have been the third wholesale frogging of decrease rows, not to mention all tinking to correct mistakes).
Cut your yarn, leaving a long tail (6" or so should be good). Thread the tail through your tapestry needle, and use the tapestry needle to pick your 6 stitches up from the DPNs. Pull it tight to close the hole. I like to also run the tapestry needle through those stitches again, and then pull it into the inside of the hat. Weave the end in (and while you're at it, weave in the end from the start of the hat).
If you like, you could attach a pompom, tassel, or crocheted flower to the top of the hat. (Yes, I had enough yarn left for this purpose.)
This page last updated on March 30, 2008. (No changes were made to the pattern.)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. © 2007, Alison K. Cody. All rights reserved. (This means you may not sell or re-post this pattern, nor may you make copies for distribution, free or otherwise, without my express permission.)