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Knitting In Progress: We've completed our Hats Knit Along with Debbie New's Klein Bottle, 1 and 3 handled versions plus instructions for a garter stitch Klein Bottle Hat. Scroll down to find completed instructions for the Conch Spiral Hat and Kliban Hat Knit Alongs with Meg Swansen. Christmas Stocking Knit Along remains at http://www.schoolhousepress.com/christmasstocking.htm) We'll announce our next Knit Along soon and hope to do a little construction in the coming weeks to provide a group chat forum for knitters and a mailbox for questions for the instructors.

* The content of our Knit Alongs is copyrighted, owned by Schoolhouse Press or the Knit Along Designer (such as Debbie New); see copyright information at the start of each Knit Along to determine the copyright holder. Though the content here is provided free, it may not be reproduced or distributed without permission from the copyright holder and is provided for personal use only. If you have questions about the use of this material, please contact Schoolhouse Press

Ribbed Klein Bottle Hat (with Debbie New*, pictured at left and below)

*author of Unexpected Knitting

The Klein Bottle Hat: A Möbius scarf is a very fine thing and it seems to me to be even better to go one step further and knit a Klein bottle hat (above) to go with it. I first decided to knit a Klein bottle hat to utilize a same-on-both-sides stitch, since a Klein bottle, like a Möbius strip has only one side. The hat is doubled so winter warm and comfortable. Like a Möbius strip, one side ”flows into the other and even what appears to be an enclosed pouch between the two layers is also continuous with all the other surfaces. To make an actual Klein bottle one must cheat a little and make a hole that is theoretically not there so that one part of it can pass through another. It seems to call for a one-sided stitch, but would still be a Klein bottle without, just as the surface of a strip of paper would be the same surface if part of it was painted or patterned.

I want to try several versions of a Klein bottle hat. One knit back and forth in garter stitch, one knit round and round in rib, and one which topologists might describe as “the connected sum of 3 Klein bottles. The first two would probably be immediately recognized by mathematicians. The third might not, as it has 3 handles instead of one, but makes an interesting looking hat nevertheless and if you meet any mathematicians, you can always enlighten them!

My first effort, shown above on me, used a double wrapped stitch and a k2tog. I liked the stitch, but it became too cumbersome to write out a pattern. So I have gone ahead with a rib and a garter version.

I was tempted to call the one handled hat Eine Kleine Nachtmütze, but thought better of it. But it does look like something Wee Willie Winkie would have been happy to wear. The ribbed hat is knit circularly and the end of the handle passes through a hole in the “outside” and is grafted (or seamed if you prefer) to a hole on the “inside”. The diagram above shows the finished hat, there is a cross section in the center showing how all the surfaces flow into each other and a 3-handled (Connected Sum of 3 Klein Bottles) variant is on the right.

The garter stitch version is a Hat for Cat-Cat Bordhi that is. It uses the fact that a Klein bottle can be made out of the Möbius strips that she enjoys. I am choosing to construct it in such a way that it is hard to imagine it could become a hat. So it is also a hat for Elizabeth-a surprise ”hat. Except for the twists, it is not hard to knit, but twists and contortions make it a challenge to design and it is entertaining me. For those who are not entertained by such things, there is a simple straightforward modification that needs a small seam at the garter selvedge.

Materials: I am using Canadian Regal 2 ply, one hat is in Quoddy blue and one in Sandstone red. I have not finished knitting my ribbed hats but it looks as though one skein may be just enough for the one handled version in rib or garter stitch (Debbie amends and prefers to use two skeins for the one handled), but I will probably need two for a three handled version. I have used 3.75mm & 4.5mm circular needles, US 7 & 5.

March 10, 2008: Ribbed Klein Bottle Hat (with a 3 handled variant)

One or Three Handled Rib: This hat (two versions above) is knit circularly with a narrower tube for the handle at one end. The tube folds to make two layers and the handle pokes through a hole in the outer layer and joins to a hole in the inside layer. It is not really quite proper to refer to the inside and outside of the hat since it becomes one-sided shape as soon as the handle is connected to the hole in the inner layer. But it becomes very inconvenient not to be allowed to talk about the inside and outside of a hat, so I have decided to be not very proper.

I should perhaps warn you that there are instructions for grafting ribbing at the end, but you can join the last bit any way you please because it is rather hidden anyway. I wouldn't want to startle you by coming upon such a thing unawares. I used Canadian Briggs and Little Regal 2 ply in Quoddy blue. One ball was barely enough for my one handled version, but the hat was a bit short and I enlarged the pattern. So as written it will take two balls. One would be enough for a child's or baby's hat or even for a smaller size adult hat. There are suggestions included for smaller hats. My needles were 4.5 mm & 3.75 mm circular needles, US 5 & 7 and the larger needle gave me a gauge of 25 stitches and 23 rows = 4 unblocked.

Part 1: The Crown of the Inner Layer

Cast on 12 with size 7 needle by long tail method pulling the long tail loop rather tightly. Continue circularly.
Round 1: K1, lift the strand before the next stitch (the one above the twisted loop made by the long tail) by inserting the L needle tip under it from the back, purl into that strand. Repeat to end of rnd. [24 stitches]
Rnd 2: K1, p1, k1 then work a double inc (purl into the next stitch, knit into the back of it and purl into the front of it again. Repeat to end of rnd. [36]
Rnds 3 & 4: Work in k1, p1 rib.
Rnd 5: Work in rib for 5 stitches then work a double inc in the next stitch. Repeat to end of rnd. [48]
Continue to work 2 rib rnds followed by one inc rnd, but each time you work an inc rnd, work 2 more stitches between incs so you always work 6 double incs in the rnd adding 12 stitches. Work until you have 96 stitches (13 stitches between double incs).
(For a child's hat or small size adult hat you could stop at 84 stitches or 72 stitches for a baby)

Part 2: Completing the Inner Layer

One Handled Hat: For a true Klein bottle with one handle: Rib 5 (3 for a baby hat) then take some waste yarn in a contrasting color and work the next 12 stitches in rib. Slip the 12 contrasting stitches purlwise back onto the LH needle (they should continue to lie the same way on the needle). Use the main color to work the rest of the rnd in rib starting with the 12 waste yarn stitches.

Three Handled Hat: For a 3-handled “Projected sum of 3 Klein Bottles hat: This needs 3 waste yarn lines evenly spaced around the hat. Work only 9 waste yarn stitches instead of 12 as your handles will be a bit smaller. So rib 5 (3 for a baby hat), *rib 9 in contrasting color, slip them back purlwise onto LH needle so they are still oriented correctly. With main color, work in rib for 32 stitches (or 1/3 the number of stitches in the rnd). Repeat from * twice, stopping 5 (or 3) stitches early at the end of the rnd.

For both versions, work 3 more rnds of rib then an increase rnd starting with 2 more stitches (15) between double incs. Continue working 4 rnds of rib followed by one inc rnd until you have 120 sts (or the circumference you want for the hat). Work 18 rnds in rib or 1 ”short of the length you want for the finished hat, try it on to check. Make a note of the number of rnds you worked after the last inc if it was different from mine.

March 12, 2008

Part 3: The Outer Layer

Change to a smaller needle size and work 1” more of rib.
Next rnd: Work in rib but slip each purl stitch with the yarn in front. This is to make a bit of a fold line.
Rib one rnd then repeat the slip stitch rnd.
Work 1” more of rib on the smaller needle.

You are now going to mirror the shaping of your first half, stopping 4 rnds before the waste yarn to make a slit (or 3 slits) by knitting back and forth.
Change to the original needle size.
Mark this rnd for easy counting and work 18 rnds of rib (or the number of rounds you noted earlier). This will take you to the point where you will start to dec for the top of the “outside” of the hat. If you did not modify the hat size and have 120 stitches in the rnd, the following numbers will apply. Otherwise follow the alternate instructions in brackets.
First dec rnd: Start by working in rib for 17 stitches, Sl 2 tog, k1, pass 2 sl stitches over to work a double dec. Repeat to end of rnd. [108]
(or if you modified the size, divide the number of stitches in your rnd by 6 and subtract 3 to get the number of stitches between decs.)
Work 4 rib rnds then a dec rnd reducing the number of stitch between decs by 2. [96]
(or repeat until you have worked the same number of decreases as the inc rnds you worked after the waste yarn rnd).

March 14, 2008

Part 4: Making the Virtual Hole(s)

These are the holes that mathematicians are able to pretend are not there. You can make a slit by knitting back and forth for a while continuing with decreases every 4th row. My version below has a little bit of shaping to produce a rounder hole.
For a child’s or baby’s hat start row 1 by ribbing 2 instead of 4. For a baby’s hat omit rows 9 & 10 and adjust the dec rows to every 4th row.

One Handled Hat:

R 1: (RS row) Rib 4, slip 1 with yarn behind and mark the next stitch. This will be the center stitch of the slit.
Knit the marked stitch through the back but don’t allow it to drop from the L needle (as you will need to use it again at the end of the next row), pass one stitch over the latest stitch on the R needle, turn.
R2: P2tog, starting with a p stitch, rib to 1 before the marked center stitch (this is the one you didn’t allow to drop off the needle in row 1), slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, p1 through back, pass one stitch over, turn.
R3: This is a dec rnd. Ssk then, starting with a k stitch, work in rib, but work 3 into 1 double decs directly above each of your 6 previous decs as you work back to the stitch before the marked stitch, k1, turn.
R 4, 5, & 6: Rib to marked stitch working and extra p stitch at each end of WS rows and an extra k stitch at the ends of RS rows. Turn.
R 7: A dec row, so like row 5, but work decs above previous decs.
R 8, 9 & 10: Like row 4, 5 & 6.
R 11: A dec row. K1, make an e loop, work like row 7 to last stitch, make an e loop, k1.
R 12: Make an e loop on the R needle, work in rib to last stitch, make an e loop, turn.
R 13: Slip 1 stitches from the R to the L needle, k2tog, work in rib to the end of the round. (Round ends 4 stitches before the marked stitch).
Next rnd rib, the following round is a dec rnd, work decs above previous decs.
Continue working circularly in rib decreasing above previous decreases every 4th rnd until you have 24 stitches.

Three Handled Hat:

R 1: (RS) Rib 4, slip 1 with yarn behind and mark the next stitch. This will be the center stitch of the first slit, but also mark 2 more stitches evenly spaced around the hat (every 32 stitches or 1/3 of the stitches in the rnd). You will be working between two adjacent marked stitches instead of right around the hat as for version 1.
Knit the marked stitch through the back but don’t allow it to drop from the L needle, pass one stitch over the latest stitch on the R needle, turn.
R2: P2tog, starting with a p stitch, rib to 2 before the next marked center stitch, slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, p1 through back, pass one stitch over, turn.
Work rows 3 – 8 as for version 1, but omit rows 9 & 10 for a smaller slit
R 9: K1, make an e loop, rib to last stitch, make an e loop, k1.
R 10: Make1 by making an e loop on the R needle, rib to end, make an e loop on the R needle, cut yarn.
For the 2nd section, slip the next marked stitch (which should still be left on the needle after working the first section) then join in the new yarn and repeat from rows 1 – 10.
Repeat for the 3rd section, but do not cut the yarn, turn.
R 11 (RS): Slip 1 stitch from the R needle to the L, k2tog. Work in rib, to the next slit and knit the 2 e loops together. Rib to 4 stitches before the 1st marked stitch, which is the beginning of the next circularly knit rnd.
In the next rnd, work double decs over previous decs and knit the 2 e loops together as you pass the 1st slit.
Continue working circularly in rib decreasing above previous decreases every 4th rnd until you have 24 stitches.

March 17, 2008

Part 5: Knitting the Handle(s)

The handles are just a tube knitted circularly. I have added some short rows to they bend more easily, but you can just knit them straight if you prefer. The 3 handles of version 2 are a little narrower and are picked up from each other.

1 Handled Hat

Divide stitches so half of them, those furthest from the hole the handle will pass into, are on one double pointed needle or one section of a circular needle so they can easily be worked on. Arrange to have a p stitch at each end of this group. You will work short rows on these stitches so the handle bends without distorting. Work short rows after every 8 rows until the handle is 7” long. Work short rows as follows:
Rib across stitches on the side of the handle away from the hole it is to go into finishing with the last k stitch, put yarn to front, sl the last p stitch, put yarn to back replace p stitch, turn. Work across this group of stitches finishing with the last p stitch, put yarn to back, sl the k stitch, put yarn to front, turn. Continue in rib circularly.
When the handle is about 7” long, work another pair of short rows then 2 more short rows that turn 2 stitches earlier than the others. Cut the yarn leaving about 2 feet for finishing.

3 Handled Hat

First handle: Choose 8 stitches directly above one of the slits and work them in rib. Cast on 10 stitches (I used the loop method for easy pick up later). Continue circularly as for version 1.
Second handle: Work the 8 stitches to the right of the 1st handle, pick up and rib 5 from the loops at the bottom of the cast on of the first handle, cast on 5. Work circularly as for version 1.
Third handle: Rib 8 stitches from the top of the hat and 5 each from the cast on of the previous 2 handles. Work as for version 1.

Now to join the handles:
Sew in the short ends before continuing, or leave them on the outside so you will be able to find them later.
The handles are going to pass through the hole below them and connect to the opening marked by the waste yarn. I found it easiest to pull the bit with the waste yarn up through the hole so I could see what I was working on better. Since this is a one-sided object it might be pleasing to graft the join seamlessly. It is tricky though because you are joining the top of rib to the bottom of rib for half the stitches and the top of rib to the top of rib for the other half. However the seam is somewhat hidden so you can choose whether you want to be tricky or not. Less tricky options would be to bind off both handle and waste-yarn-hole and seam them or perhaps to open up the waste yarn hole and either Kitchener stitch it to the handle or just whip stitch or cross stitch them together.

If you want to graft the join, the lower half of the stitches attach bottom to top of rib. The upper half connect top to top requiring a bit of fakery.

Bottom to top rib graft:
The best way to learn what happens in a bottom to top graft (bottom side of handle) is to work one row of a rib swatch in a contrasting color and mimic how the yarn passes through the stitches above and below. The waste yarn already in place marks the path through the bottom of the stitches and it might help to knit some waste yarn to the end of the handle to highlight the path through the top of the stitches. You might find it easier to work a knit stitch then pass the yarn to the other side to work a knit stitch again from below.

This shows grafting practice mimicking a single row of contrasting yarn for grafting the top of 1 x 1 rib to the bottom.

Grafting the tops of the live stitches from the handle to the (bottom) of the waste yarn stitches.

Graft 1 Graft 2

Graft 3 Graft 4

1 The first picture (Graft1) shows the needle passing down and up behind the 2 legs at the bottom of one of the knit stitches at the top.
2 Now the needle passes down through a knit and down through a purl at the bottom.
3 Here it goes up and then down through the base of a purl stitch at the top. It is hard to see what is happening from the front, but on the other side it looks like picture 1.
4 The last picture shows the needle passing up through a purl and up through a knit at the bottom.

Top to top rib graft:
It is often suggested that all the knit stitches on one side be Kitchener stitched to each other omitting the purls then, from the other side, all the remaining stitches will also appear as knits and can be Kitchener stitched together. You can try that.

Here is another possibility that I like for top-to-top grafting of 1 x 1 ribs. It is also useful for stranded knitting as well as other knit purl patterns that are offset if they are grafted normally.
The idea is to line up the live stitches without staggering them then do a single pass through each of the stitches so that the vertical line of the thread always shows on the knit side of the stitch.

The first picture shows a single vertical thread through the pairs of knit stitches and the needle passing down and up through a pair of purl stitches leaving a vertical thread on the reverse side.

The second picture shows the return pass adding a second thread between both knit and purl pairs. The stitches that were not held together horizontally on the first pass are caught on the second pass.

Here are some diagrams which may (or may not) make it clearer.

Rib Graft 1

Rib Graft 2

You can see in the first diagram that the first pass has only a single thread passing through each stitch vertically instead of the usual two and that only every second stitch is linked to its neighbor by a cross bar at the base. So a second pass is needed to complete the double vertical stand and the horizontal connection between the other pairs of stitches.

Now after the last little bit of excitement a brand new Klein bottle is ready to go forth with one side and no edges.

Debbie was kind enough to give us Garter-Stitch Klein Bottle Instructions as well (below).

Garter Stitch Klein Bottle Hat (Debbie New)

*photo of circular garter stitch version

There is a hat with a lot of twists and turns in circular knitting for the adventurous and another for those who like to knit straightforward things on straight needles. The pattern is almost identical for both. There is a rather fun garter stitch join involved in both and the straight-knit hat calls for a small last minute seam. Both require only simple knitting techniques, but the circular version gets a bit convoluted and unlikely looking. In each case the instructions for the straight knit hat follow those for its twisted sister. In fact, I believe you could change from one to the other midstream if you choose, though I am not quite sure about that as I haven’t tried it.

If you are interested in following the evolution of the circular version you need to know that if you cut a Klein bottle in half down its center line, you get two Möbius strips that twist in opposite directions. If you then cut the Möbius strips in half lengthwise you get a twisted strip twice as long and with more twists than a Möbius strip. The advantage of that is that it that, unlike a Möbius strip, it has the two sides and two edges as we expect strips to have and we can feel comfortable about casting it on normally. I started out with the misconception that these strips had a full twist and knit the first half of my hat that way. Wrong! They have two full twists. So, after a long confused struggle to make my hat work the way I had knitted it, I realized what I should have checked at the start and repaired it by cutting and splicing. Here is a picture of the high tech models I used to work out how to knit the hat. Perhaps this explains why I initially made several mistakes that had to be rethought!

I used a 4.5 mm US size 7 circular needle and Canadian Briggs and Little Regal 2 ply in sandstone red and my gauge in garter stitch was 8 ½ rows and 4 ½ sts = 1 inch (2.5 cm).
One ball was barely enough so two would be safer. But if you want to get away with one, you could cast on 38 instead of 40 for the two “body” sections and/or omit the last two short rows on each side at the end.

My hat was 9” wide and 9” from the bottom to the beginning of the handle and fits any adult we have tried it on.

Part 1: Circularly Knit or Straight Knit Hat

Circularly Knit Hat

Casting on:
With waste yarn, cast on 15 for shaping, place the first marker (PM 1), continue to cast on 40 for body, PM 2, 15 for shaping, 28 for first side of handle, 15 for shaping, PM 3, 40 for body, PM 4, 15 for shaping, 28 for second side of handle, turn. Knit one row, turn, change to working yarn and purl one row. This purl row is a right side row. Now you will continue circularly. Notice that you have 2 pairs of shaping markers. The section between a pair of markers is the body of the hat and will have no short row shaping. All the short rows will fall outside the body section after the markers on either side.

Method for wrapping when turning:
All the shaping is done with short rows and the turns should not interfere with the lines of garter ridge. All short rows will take place within the shaping sections. Here is the method I use:
Knit to the required stitch, without changing the position of the yarn slip one stitch, turn, cross the working yarn to the other side ready to knit and slip the stitch back to the R needle in order to keep knitting. Either slip purlwise both times or knitwise both times so you don’t twist the stitch. As you start to knit, don’t pull the first stitch any tighter than the normal tension of your knitting. (Occasionally you will have to slip both a stitch and a marker.)

Working the hat:
Rnd 1 (RS): Line up for circular knitting so as not to twist then take the stitches below the L needle and roll them up behind the needle, forward over the top of the needle and back to the bottom again so the bottom of the CO finishes up at the bottom again, now repeat this roll so that you have 2 full twists in your cast on.
Place marker of a distinctive color to mark the end of the round.
Knit to the beginning of the 2nd shaping section, that is, past the first shaping marker to the second, k15, wrap and turn. (See above for suggested wrapping technique.)
*Knit past one M to the 2nd M, k15, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k 9, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k9, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k3, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k3, wrap and turn.*
Knit to the last shaping section, that is past 3 markers to the 4th, k15, wrap and turn.
Repeat from * to *. Knit to end of rnd.

Round 2: The first time you work this round, check to make sure there are still 2 full wraps in your round. That is, when you orient the round correctly from the R needle around to the L, the bottom of the knitting will pass up behind the needle and back to the bottom twice. (It will look like a lot of twists because it is actually 4 half twists.) If it is not correct, fix it now.
Purl this round.

Round 3:
The first time you knit this round you can check the twists again. (Last chance to correct.)
Knit to 2nd shaping marker, k12, wrap and turn.
*Knit to 2nd M, k12, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k6, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k6, wrap and turn.
Knit, to 2nd M, wrap and turn.
Knit to next M, wrap and turn.*
Knit to the 7th M (the second last of the rnd) k12, wrap and turn.
Repeat from * to *. [turning at 12 again then 6 twice and 0 twice.]
Knit to end of rnd.

Rnd 4: Purl.

You will repeat this block of 4 rnds for the whole hat except for a bit of fiddling here and there.
They will be worked 4 times for one side and 4 for the other, but in the middle (last purl round of the 4th block) there will be a cast-on and bind-off to make a slit and it is a good idea to work some incs/decs in the handle sections of the 3rd and 7th of these 8 blocks to help the handle to bend.

So go ahead and work four 4-rnd blocks, but in the third block you can shape the handle (described below) and stop before the last purl round of the fourth block in order to bind off for the slit. It will be useful later if you mark the right side of your work near the beginning of the round after you have worked a round or two.

Shaping the handle:
The only two changes to the instructions happen in the 3rd and the 7th of the eight 4-round blocks, (one in the first half of the hat and one in the second). The change will be just after the “repeat from * to *” in round 1.
The third time you work a 4-rnd block, work round 1 from * to * the first time, then knit past 2 Ms, k15 to the first handle section, [inc by knitting into the front and back of st, k3] 6 times, then knit past one M to the M for the last shaping section, k20, wrap and turn.
Repeat from * to *, knit past 2 Ms, k15 to the second handle section, k4, [k2tog, k2] 6 times, knit to end of rnd. Continue with round 2.
The 7th time you work a 4-rnd block, which will be towards the end of the 2nd half of the hat, work to the first handle section as above, then [k2tog, k3] 6 times.
Continue to work through the round until you reach the second handle section as above, k4, [knit into the front and back of stitch, k3] 6 times, knit to end of rnd.

Straight Knit Hat

Cast on:

With the working yarn, and using the long tail method, cast on 15 for shaping, place marker (PM), continue to cast on 40 for body, PM, 15 for shaping, 28 for handle. (See note about optional handle shaping below.)
Row 1: Knit. (This is a wrong side row.)
Row 2: Knit to the beginning of the 2nd shaping section, that is, past one marker to the
second, k15, wrap and turn. (See above for suggested wrapping technique.)
Knit past one M to the 2nd M, k15, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k 9, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k9, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k3, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k3, wrap and turn.
Knit to end of row.
Row 3 and all odd rows, knit to end.
Row 4: Knit to 2nd shaping marker, k12, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k12, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k6, wrap and turn.
Knit to 2nd M, k6, wrap and turn.
Knit, to 2nd M, wrap and turn.
Knit to next M, wrap and turn.
Knit to end of row.

Repeat rows 1 – 4 until the hat is big enough to fit the head with the garter rows running vertically.
If you wish, you could shape the handle so it bends better. The handle should start with 20 instead of 28 in the cast on, increase to 36 at about 4 or 5 inches or ¼ of the way along then decrease again to 20 at about 12 inches or about ¾ of the way.

Your hat is now ready for finishing.

Part 2: Circular or Straight Knit Hat

Circular Knit Hat

Making the slit:
This happens on the last purl rnd as you finish the 4th 4-round sequence.
Purl the 1st 2 sts, bind off 16, purl to the end of the rnd.
The next rnd is rnd 1 of the 4-round sequence.
K2, turn in order to cast on 1 (using an ordinary knitted cast on), pick up the first loop of the bind off below with the left needle and pass the cast on stitch over it. Cast on 16 more stitches, turn again to continue the round (right side). Now we come to the fancy stuff!

First take hold of the strip with the right side facing and the bound off edge at the top as if you were going to continue straight across the bind off to pick up the stitches beyond, making a slit. This is in fact what you are going to do, but this is the slit that both sections of the handle must pass through, so your needle is going to perform a couple of maneuvers first.

The diagram shows the path that the needle will follow.

1st step: The needle with the newly cast on stitches should be above the bind off and angling up to the left ready to continue. Take the narrow handle segment opposite you, make it into an e loop by twisting the left up and over to the right, pick up the e loop by poking the needle down into the loop.
2nd step: Take the needle tip down behind the shaping section below the bound off stitches to the left of your needle, bring the needle tip under and back up the front to the top again ready to continue knitting into the stitches beyond the bind off.
Make sure there is not a twist in your cast on stitches then pick up the last bind off loop with the right needle and pass a cast on stitch over it. Continue as written for round 1.

Work four 4-round blocks for the second half of the hat, shaping the handles as described in the 7th block. (This returns the number of stitches in the handle sections to 28 so the two sides of the handles can be joined.) Stop before the last purl round, take a second needle and purl half a round from M 1 to M 3.
As you work you will soon find yourself knitting through a slit. You will find that your yarn now has to be pulled through the hole. You may be quietly confident that this will resolve itself the next time around, but I am sorry to say that is not to be. I hope for your sake that your ball is now small enough to be passed through the hole. Mine was.

Note to myself: It would have been a good idea to do some shaping at the top of the inside of the hat to bend it over ready to poke out through the slit. I could probably have done this by decreasing at markers 1 & 3 all through the 2nd half (last four 4-round blocks) or knitting 2 together over some of the short row turns.

Finishing:

Here is a tricky way of avoiding a garter stitch graft to join the hat and I have used it in both hats.

Circular hat:
At the end of the eighth 4-round block, you finished by purling half a round. You probably had to dive through the hole of the slit in order to do that. If not, take your needle through now. Find the far end of the needle you just worked with and the point you would use if you were going to continue the round. Bring these point to point and orient them so the stitches on both sides appear as purls (as in the purl side of stocking stitch). K1 and pass one stitch over.
*Transfer one stitch from the right needle to the left purlwise, k2tog, pass a stitch over.*
Repeat from * until you run out of stitches.

At times you will find it hard to bring the needle points together and will need to pull a loop of the needle out between stitches as shown on the left, or work a few stitches at a time on double pointed needles.
To check that you are doing this correctly, make sure that one stitch is disappearing from each needle with each repeat. You will finish with the body of the hat joined so it is as wide as needed for the hat and twice as long.

Now pick up the stitches above the waste yarn cast on, using one needle for the purl stitches and the other for the knit stitches. With the handle at the top, fold the body of the hat across the garter ridges. There are two ways to do this; one with the right side of the first section outside and the other with it inside. One will give you the Klein bottle hat pictured and the other is an inverted hat that could be pulled through itself to produce the hat shown. The correct way (on the right) will allow the side with the slit to run on up into a handle that bends over to enter the slit.

As before, find the far end of the needle with the trailing end of yarn from the first purl row and the point you would use if you were going to continue with that yarn. Bring these point to point and orient them and join them as above. Check to see if you have markers to remove or ends to sew in before quite completing the join. If you want your slit shorter than it is you can seam it a little.

Straight Knit Hat

The cast on and the last row were right side rows. With a second needle, pick up the loops below the cast on. With the wrong side (purl bumps) facing work with the two needle tips at the handle end where the yarn is attached.
K1 and pass one stitch over.
*Transfer one stitch from the right needle to the left purlwise, k2tog, pass a stitch over.*
Repeat from * until you reach the last marker, bind off the live stitches.
(When the two lots of stitches are too close together to work with, you could use small groups of stitches on double pointed needles where necessary.)
Draw the end of the bind off to the beginning of the cast on with a stitch or two and sew the cast on and bind off together for a short way until the slit is the appropriate size to allow the handle to pass through.
Now there is only one small seam to go. Invert the part of the hat without a narrow handle. It becomes the inside of the hat. Twist the handle over and seam its open selvedge edge to the selvedge at the top of the inside of the hat. Once you have finished this seam there is no longer an inside and an outside to your hat. Both sides now flow into each other and become one.

Spiral Conch Hat (Completed Knit Along with Meg Swansen)

EZ's Conch Hat: I included the Conch Hat (photos above, left photo taken from above) because of the knitters who have contacted me - frustrated because they could not achieve EZ's sharp edge along the spiral. Also because it is so clever and cute and fast to knit.

Materials: You will need 2 skeins of Sheepsdown and a large (#10.5, #11 or possibly #13 if you are a tight knitter) size for your needles; either a pair of 24 circulars, or a 16 circular and a set of double pointed needles. Elizabeth designed the hat specifically for Sheepsdown, but I just knitted one using 4-strands of Unspun Icelandic. It is slightly smaller in diameter than the original - but fits a small adult or a child's head and takes only 1 wheel of wool; mine is in the new, soft Sage shown in photo above. If you wish to make a larger sized conch hat use a larger needle. 1 wheel of Unspun may still be sufficient; it was close for me but order a second wheel if you like.

February 4, 2008: Spiral Hat, Part I (of Two Parts)

Dear Knitter:

This hat was originally designed by Elizabeth to celebrate her custom- spun wool, which she had named Sheepsdown (above). Her first Spiral Hat appeared in Newsletter #19, September, 1967; and later in Knitting Without Tears, 1971.

It had five spirals around it with nice crisp edges, formed by her method of increase. However, when the top shaping began and the increases stopped, the crisp edges melted away. A number of years later she came up with a way to continue the edge all the way to the very top -- and to streamline the whole design by reducing the number of spirals from 5 to 3.

If any of you have the initial printing of EZ's The Opinionated Knitter, there is an error in this hat on page 96(my mistake, not ma's). This has been corrected in subsequent print-runs; please fix your copy:

right-hand column, 7th line.
It says (P1, P2tog twice, K13, M1) 3 times.
WRONG. It should read:
(P1, P2tog twice, K15, M1) 3 times.

Originally, we could easily get one hat from a single skein of Sheepsdown-- but the mill has (somehow) reduced the yardage per skein without altering the diameter of the wool...? So, a tad more than one skein is now required. To rationalize having to buy more wool, encourage yourself that you can knit 2 hats from 3 skeins --and why not make the second one EZ’s Maltese Fisherman’s Hat; another excellent pattern designed specifically for Sheepsdown. If you run out of cold heads in your family, there are countless charities which welcome knitted, woolly items.

GAUGE: 2-3/4 sts to 1”(says ma). I get 2-2/3 sts to 1” in 4-ply Unspun Icelandic and 2-1/2 sts to 1” in Sheepsdown.

SIZE: adult; 19” or 20” around. I used a #11 for the Icelandic version and it is 19” around (above the garter-stitch band). A #10-1/2 needle got me a 20” Sheepsdown hat (see GAUGE, above). With knitting being so obliging, both hats nicely fit everyone in the office (all of us with different head sizes) AND 6 yr. old Eli.

MATERIAL: 2 skeins Sheepsdown - or 1 wheel Unspun Icelandic worked 4- ply. A pair of 24” circular needles -- or a 16” circular and a set of d.p. needles. Approx #10-1/2 or #11, or maybe #13 for tight knitters. Actually - for the Sheepsdown version, I found that, until the decreases began, I could use a more comfortable 24” circular without stretching the fabric - and no need for the Magic Loop trick.

ABBREVIATION: M1 = Make one; an increase. The increase-method you use is critical once the spirals begin -- but for increases above the garter-stitch, use any method you like.

4-PLYING UNSPUN: To make 4-ply wool from a single wheel of Unspun Icelandic, wind a 2-ply ball by taking one strand from the center and one from the outside of the wheel. Rather than get out the kitchen scales, make a game of it and guess when you have wound up half the wheel. Break the strands; join the two sets of 2-plies together and off you go. You'll find out near the end how close you came to dividing the wheel evenly.

So. With Sheepsdown or 4-ply Icelandic, Cast On 40 stitches. Knit back and forth (garter-stitch) for 5 rows. Next Row: increase to 60 sts by working (K2, M1) across the whole row, ending M1. JOIN (being careful not to twist) and immediately begin the ‘pattern’:

*P2, P2tog, K16, M1. Repeat from * 3 times per round.

Here is where it matters what kind of M1 you use: using the working wool form a loop in the air and slip it onto the right needle. Make sure the strand coming from the knitting is on top (the underneath strand goes to the ball). See photo below.

Continue to repeat the pattern round and you will see the garter- stitch panel shifts one stitch to the left every round, but the stitch count remains constant; quite right; you are countering each decrease (P2tog) by a M1.

Onward for a total of 18 rounds. (EZ mentions 18 to 20 rounds -- but you may not have enough Unspun Icelandic for 20 rounds; the models shown have 18.)

Watch For: At least once, in every Spiral hat I’ve made, I inadvertently omit the M1 at the end of a K16 in the previous round. Damn.

Luckily, ripping is not necessary: simply pick up the running thread - from behind - with the tip of the R needle, insert L needle into front and Knit. You’ve inserted the M1 in the previous round. Now, after that operation, don’t forget the M1 on this round.

18 Rounds completed shown below.

February 8, 2008: Spiral Hat, Part II (of Two Parts)

Dear Knitter:

After spiralling around for 18 rounds, the hat is deep enough to begin the top decreases -- while maintaining the edge formed by the M1 increase. If you would like a deeper hat -- and have plenty of wool -- go ahead and add a few more rounds before starting instructions below.

TOP SHAPING:
Round 19: (P1, P2tog, P2tog, K15, M1) x3. (Yes, the second P2tog will be over a pair of stocking-stitches)

Round 20 : (P1, P2tog, P2tog, K14, M1) x3
Round 21: (P1, P2tog, P2tog, K13, M1) x3, etc. reducing by one, the number of plain knit stitches in each section. Continue reducing rounds until you reach the K10-round.

Note: When you begin your second skein of Sheepsdown, SPLICE in the new skein as follows: This wool is very lightly spun 4-ply; separate the plies and break them off at staggered lengths. Overlap the ends on your palm, lick your other palm and rub your hands together briskly for 5 seconds (until you can feel heat from the friction). Do that again at the other end of the splice. Now add a few twiddles to spin the wool gently and you should see no discernible thickness in the strand. Knit on.

When you have reduced to K10, you 16” circular-needle-knitters will want to shift to d.p. needles - or a second circular. Onward to the very end - (p2tog, p2tog, K1, M1) x3 which gets a bit awkward. Elizabeth says to stop here - with 12 stitches left; run the working wool through them, draw them up tight and finish off. However, at this thick gauge, getting rid of 3 more stitches makes a difference, so I battle on for one more round and reduce the number of purl stitches from 3 to 2 as follows:

( [Slip 1, P2tog, psso], K1, M1) x3 = 9 stitches remaining. Finish off by running the working wool through them and drawing them up tightly as EZ instructed.

Sew up garter-stitch-border seam(lette), in any manner you like - and there you are.

P.S. If you are knitting with the Unspun Icelandic wool, it requires a bit of preparation before sewing up a seam.

Thread a large-eyed sewing-up needle, then twiddle that needle round and round between your thumb and fingers in order to - literally - spin the strand of wool, making it good and strong. Now you can sew- up as with any commercially spun wool. Re-spin as necessary.

Kliban Hat (Completed Knit Along with Meg Swansen)

The Kliban Hat: The Kliban Hat (pictured above in the drawing) was named for the cartoonist. I had written Kliban a fan letter (my brother knew him-which is how I got his address) and enclosed a photograph of me, reading the CAT book, surrounded by three actual cats; a candid photo by Chris, not a set-up. Kliban sent back an amazing drawing of his caveman-character holding a draped cat under his arm - and wrote, "What the hell does a person like yourself DO in Pittsville, Wis?" To thank him for the original drawing, I spun some wool and knitted him a ribbed hat (now known as The Kliban Hat.) He returned the drawing you see above, saying the hat had arrived just in time for a trip to New York - and it kept his bald spot warm!

This project has only been published in Wool Gathering and a Spun Out and includes instructions for adding color stripes in ribbing without producing a wrong side; perfect for those who like to turn up the lower edge. This hat also uses Invisible Casting On -- the previously published instructions use an older, lengthy method (cast-on-half-the-number-of-sts-plus- one); there is a new, slicker version I'd like to show you.

Materials: I'm knitting mine in Ultra Alpaca: (06) light grey, (85) oceanic mix and (40) blue violet; 1 skein each. As a loose knitter (that sounds suggestive, doesn't it?) I am using a #6 needle: choose either a 16” circular plus a set of d.p. needles; or a pair of 24 ”circulars.

February 25, 2008: Kliban Hat, Part I

Dear Knitter:

The Kliban Hat was originally published in an old issue of WG and has since become Spun Out #8. It is important to use at least 2 colors in order to work EZ’s trick of adding horizontal stripes in ribbing without producing a ‘wrong’ side.

As a loose knitter, I’m using a #6, 16” circular needle (you may want a #7 or #8), plus a set of d.p. needles for the top shaping, but you may choose to work on a pair of 24” needles to the bitter end. Gauge is tricky to measure in ribbing -- my hat measures only 7-1/2” across (15” around), but easily stretches to fit a 20” head. Knit your hat nice and long, as the horizontal stretch will use up a bit of the height and you want enough length to turn up the lower edge.

Note: You may use any cast-on you like. In the original Kliban Hat, we chose Invisible because of its nearly infinite elasticity; when you fold up the lower edge of a hat, stretch is what you need. So if you decide upon a different (more familiar) cast on than what is described below, make it nice and stretchy.

We’ll begin with a New Improved method for Invisible Casting On (referred to as tubular cast on in the Knitting Glossary DVD). If you are familiar with the Twisty-Wrap, or Itsy-Bitsy-Spider method of Provisional Casting On, this is identical:

Loosely knot together the real-wool (grey in my case) and an auxiliary-wool (teal in the photo).

Hold knot and needle in your right hand. In your left hand, hold the aux-wool above the real-wool. *With needle in front of the aux-wool, dip behind the real-wool and scoop it toward yourself.

Take needle over the top of aux-wool and scoop (toward yourself) another loop of real-wool.

Repeat from * until you have a total of 90 ‘stitches’ (loops).Twist the 2 working wools around each other below the needle so that last loop cannot escape.

NOW you will work 8 rounds of Double Knitting.When Double Knitting is worked back and forth, each row is the same. However, when worked in the round (as we will do here) you need to alternate 2 different rounds.

Spread the loops around the 16” needle, making sure the aux-wool is below the needle all around and never twisted. Un-do the temporary slip knot you made to begin with and join end to beginning as you work...

Round A: *K1, (left picture), wool forward, slip next stitch as if to purl (right picture).

Take wool, between the needles, to the back (picture below) and repeat from * around.

Round B: **with wool in back, slip 1 as if to purl (left picture below). Bring
wool to front and purl 1 (right picture below).

Repeat from ** around. In other words, on the second round you are slipping the stitch you had knitted on the first round, and purling the stitch you had slipped.

Repeat Rounds A and B for a total of 8 rounds.

Then, on the 9th round, ooze into K1, P1 rib for 2-3 inches. The aux-wool may be drawn out from the cast-on edge whenever you like.

February 29, 2008: Kliban Hat, Part 2

After about 2 or 3 inches, you may feel like changing color. Break off old color, leaving a nice long tail for darning-in. Leave a similar-length tail and join in new color.

Now you will decrease the total number of stitches by half - with each knit-stitch triumphant over its purl partner. So, if your first stitch of the round is a K, work ssk around on all stitches; a left-leaning decrease in which the first (knit) stitch consumes the second (purl) stitch. In other words: slip the K stitch as if to knit, slip the next purl stitch as if to knit, insert tip of Left needle into the two slipped stitches and knit them together. You may think this is the same as K2tog tbl -- but it isn’t. You are preparing the stitches by slipping them k’wise which puts the left-leg of the stitch in front of the needle. Now when you DO K2tog tbl, the stitches will not be twisted.

However, I like to work K2tog instead of ssk -- so I back up one stitch in order to have a purl be the first stitch of the round. Now, with the new color, I can K2tog around on all stitches; a right- leaning decrease in which the second-stitch (knit) consumes the first (purl) stitch. In the photo below, I have already worked a teal stripe and am shifting into a grey by working K2tog around. I just noticed how old my beloved needle is; how many tens of thousands of stitches has it knitted?

OK. After the round of SSK or K2tog (45 stitches on the needle), work the subsequent round as follows:

*K1 (the decrease from the previous round), duck in back of the working wool and pick up the running thread from behind with the tip of the R needle.

Insert L needle under the strand as shown below and purl it.

Repeat from * around and you are back up to your full compliment of 90 stitches.

Here is what my first stripe looks like on one side

and on the other. Cool, huh?

Continue around as established -- changing color as Inner Directed, until the hat is good and long; about 12+ inches.

Here is my whole hat so far. I’ll probably work another few inches before shaping the top.

And - the ‘forced’ daffodil bulbs I planted before Christmas have just decided to bloom; in front of my blazing fire.

March 3 , 2008: Kliban Hat, Part 3 of 3 (Top Shaping)

When your hat looks long enough (mine is about 12” tall), it is time to shape the top. Since we have a multiple of 3 stitches altogether (90), let us double- decrease 3 times in each round . A double-decrease (which turns 3 stitches into 1) will travel in a straight line and there is a beautiful method that results in a knit stitch running up the middle - with the stitch to each side tucked neatly behind it. So we will be careful to select a P1, K1, P1 group for the first round of decreases (the middle stitch must be a K to make this work properly). Since each dbl-dec uses 3 stitches and we want 3 dbl-decs in each round, subtract 3x3 from the total 90 stitches = 81. 81 divided by 3 sections = 27. So, for the very first decrease round, there will be 27 stitches between each of the three dbl.dec.

If the above sounds too garbled, just do this:

Grab 3 coil-less safety pins (or some kind of marker that goes into the fabric and not around the needle). And - even though I say “k27”, I always mean Knit the knit stitches and Purl the purl stitches.

Beginning with a K stitch ,Dec Rnd #1. *K27. You should now have - on your left needle - a purl, knit, purl. Those stitches will constitute the first decrease.

Slip 2 together knitwise (being the K and the P to its right)

Knit 1

p2sso (pass the two slipped stitches over the knit stitch

Here is the resulting single-stitch

Put a coil-less pin into that stitch, as it will now be the CENTER of each successive group of three that turn into one. I’d rather put a marker directly into the stitch rather than a ring- marker over the needle -- so there is no doubt which is the Important Stitch.

Repeat from * 3 times.

Since you are getting rid of 2 stitches at each decrease, the 27 in- between stitches will become 25 for one round, then 23, then 21, etc. However, after establishing the 3 decrease-points, don’t bother to count stitches as there is a slight hiccough at the beginning that may throw you off. So rather than count, with your 3 markers in place, simply --

Rnd 2. **K to within 1 stitch of the marked stitch; there will be 3 K stitches together. Dbl-dec as above.

Repeat from ** two times more.

Rnd 3. As above, but with 2 fewer stitches between each dbl-dec.

Study your knitting; you will note that the rounds alternate between a K stitch each side of the marked stitch and a Purl stitch on each side.

If you are working on a pair of 24” needles, you can remain on them to the end. If you are on a 16” circular, when the stitches become too few to glide comfortably around the needle, either introduce a second circular needle, or switch to a set of double-pointed needles; 1/3 of the stitches on each needle -- with the dbl-dec in the middle.