Cast on 10 stitches using the cable cast on. If you are using double pointed needles, I would suggest trying to get as many stitches on the needles as possible, and then moving them around to space them out afterward. For example, I wanted 24 stitches in between the earflaps to be on my middle needle, and the earflaps to be on the other two needles, along with the rest of the stitches. I cast on as many stitches as would fit onto the first needle, then moved some over, and then I continued to cast on. It can be pretty difficult to try to cast on stitches over the gap created by two different needles, so we'll try to make it easier on ourselves. Once you've cast on your first 10 stitches, you are going to knit the first earflap right on after your 10 stitches. Here is a video that Julie posted on how to do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ0i6XWFwa8
After you've knit the first earflap on, cast on 26 more stitches. Then, knit the second earflap on. Finish by casting on 10 more stitches. Now, you can join your round. To join, just start knitting into the first stitch that you cast on. Once you knit the stitch, pull the tail tightly to make sure there isn't going to be a huge gap. Note: for the first few rounds, there will be a gap, but just do your best to tighten the stitch joining the last and first stitches, and we'll be able to close that gap at the end. Make sure that your stitches aren't twisted! If you look at all of your needles, the cast on edge should be closest to the floor when you hold your needles parallel to the floor. If this edge comes up and over one needle in any spot, it means that you twisted your stitches, and you will end up with a fabric that you definitely don't want for this project. If you are knitting on double point needles, you will want to make sure that you also tighten the first stitch that you knit off of every needle, just like you did the first stitch. Gaps can form between your double point needles, and pulling the first stitch on every needle tight will decrease your chances of "ladders," or spaces between each stitch that run all the way up the fabric.
Once you've joined your cast on round, you can start knitting! In the pattern that I gave to you, I made a mistake on Round 1. It should read as follows:
Round 1: k9, k2tog, k12, k2tog, k25, k2tog, k12, k2tog, k10.
All this row is going to do is close up the gaps that formed around the earflaps when you knit them into the cast on row. You can skip reading this row, and just do Round 1 as follows if you feel comfortable doing so:
Round 1: Knit to one stitch before the first gap on earflap one. Knit two stitches together to close the gap. Knit to one stitch before the second gap on earflap one, knit two together to close the gap. Knit until one stitch before the first gap on earflap two. Knit two together to close the gap. Knit until one stitch before the second gap on earflap two. Knit two together to close the gap. Knit until the end of the round.
Once you finish your first round, it's just straight knitting until you want to start making the hat smaller to fit the top of the recipient's head. Here is a picture of my hat after I finished Round 1:
It's looking a little weird right now, but once I get some more rounds done for the body it will actually look like a hat! :) When knitting the body, the pattern specifies knitting for 25 rounds. Julie's pattern says to knit for about 3.25 inches from the cast on edge. If you are able to measure the intended recipient's head from how far down they want the hat to go on their head (whether or not they want it to cover their ears, etc) to where their head starts sloping in at the top, you'll know how long to knit your hat body. For adult hats, it can be from 4.5 inches upward, usually, and some adults have smaller heads. You can guess as well, because if you did the earflaps, the hat itself doesn't have to go down over their ears. Just make sure that you are tightening your stitches between each needle. If you're on a circular needle, you don't have to worry about that.
That is all for today, I believe. Do you have any questions? Are you doing something crazy weird and don't even know what the right question to ask would be? Let me know in the comments, or you can email me (alexandyjATgmailDOTcom replace the uppercase words with the appropriate symbols). Remember, I'm also available to help in person if you are having trouble. Just let me know! Once we get the body done, we can start on the leaves. See you next time!
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