5th Hat pattern The 7-8 Hat

Whew! Have you all survived the heat!? Sure hope so. Brace yourselves though, there's supposed to be another wave this weekend. But lets look on the bright side...its the perfect excuse to crank that air conditioner and knit a hat!

A note on the yarn exchange scarf: It's coming! I'm still waiting on a few participants get their yarn to me. wink wink - nudge nudge. Wait until you see some of these yarns we get to knit (or crochet) with!!! Gorgeous. Should be fun!

The 7-8 Hat is based on the 2^nd pattern, this one is more cloche-like in appearance, and a bit more challenging. I titled it the 7-8 hat because it has 7 sections and 8 ridges. The numbers 7 and 8 are are considered lucky numbers; 7 is more a western cultural favorite - 8 is the lucky number in the east. So I thought we could knit some luck into a hat for these ladies.
This pattern is knitted for a specific gauge. So you will want to be sure to knit a swatch and make sure your gauge matches mine – or you might wind up with a skirt instead of a hat.

Materials:

• Yarn: gauge - I used #6 needles and got 4.5 sts. to 1 inch. (9 stitches to 2inches)
• #6 circular needles (16”) and set of 5 double pointed needles same size
• 3 markers ( it is helpful to have two that are the same)
• tapestry needles

Useful information to understanding the pattern: There are three markers. I recommend making two the same and the third different. The third/different marker should be the center marker. It will always be referred to as the center marker. The other two will be referred to as the first and second markers.

Section one:

Cast on 85 sts. join. – be sure not to twist.

Place marker. (this should be the odd marker)

Knit 8 rows

Knit 10 st. Place Marker. Continue knitting until 10 before first marker. Place marker. Lift two stitches back onto the left hand needle. You will now turn the work as follows: bring the working yarn to the front of the work between the needles. Lift one stitch from left needle to right needle. Bring yarn to the back of the work. Replace the lifted stitch. Turn the work. This entire procedure is called wrap and turn.

Purl back to two stitches before the marker. You will do another wrap and turn, except that since you are purling this time, take the thread from the front to the back – slip stitch – then bring the thread back to the front, and put the slipped stitch back.

Knit to one stitch before marker. Wrap and Turn.

Purl to one stitch before marker. Wrap and Turn.

Knit 2 rounds. (don’t stop at the first marker. Continue past it slipping it as you go. When you hit the center marker this is the first round, knit one more round back to the center marker)

Purl 3 rounds.

Section two:

• **Knit to three stitches before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Purl to three stitches before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Knit to two stitches before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Purl to two stitches before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Knit to one stitch before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Purl to one stitch before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
• Knit past the second marker to the center marker.
• Knit one round
• Purl three rounds. **

Repeat the pattern between ** 5 more times. Decreasing as follows:

Section three: No decreases

Section four: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Knit to first marker. Decrease 7 stitches evenly spaced between the two markers. I purled seven stitches and then one decrease. To decrease purl two stitches together. 78 stitches total. Purl 3^rd row.

Section five: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 6 stitches as above. 72 stitches. Purl 3^rd row.

Section six: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 7 stitches. Purl five, purl to together. 65 stitches. Purl 3^rd row.

Section seven: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 5 stitches. Purl five, purl to together. 60 stitches. You must get 60 stitches on this round so adjust as necessary.

Crown: If you haven’t already, switch to double pointed needles. I put 15 stitches on each. You can also remove the first and second markers. Leave the center one as reference until you don’t need it anymore.

The crown decrease pattern is as follows:

• Knit 10, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
• Knit 9, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
• Knit 8, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
• Knit 7, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
• The pattern should be visible at this point. Continue until you have 10 stitches left.
• Knit two together 5 times. Break yarn with a tail, using tapestry needle, sew tail through last five stitches and pull snug.

Weave ends in.

Now, of course. This hat isn’t without it’s problems. If anyone has a brilliant ideas how to do the wrap and turn better on the purl side that would be great. I wound up with nice gaping holes (see picture below). The only way I can think of to fix that is to make a new stitch there on the final full knitted round and then purl two together on the first purl round. But that is a lot of remembering. There must be a better way to do this. All thoughts are welcome!

And lastly - if you would like a pdf version of this pattern so you can print it out - email me at pinkknit@mail.com. In fact if you want a pdf of any of the patterns let me know.