Watercolor Tri-tip Hat

View of the Y-shaped top

I've been digging through my yarn stash to make hats for my youngest grandson, Isaac. He is not quite one and has outgrown the hats I made when he was born. I like hat patterns that knit up quickly and I like multi-color, so I pulled out some Caron Simply Soft left over from a baby blanket I had knitted and decided to use it as a double strand, mixing different colors--speed and color. I like this yarn because it has a nice feel and can be easily found at local big box stores, which is important when you live in the boonies. I knitted this hat in a couple of hours one evening while watching TV. Since Isaac is a couple of states away, I had to use a substitute to model the hat.

Multi-color Tri-tipped Toddler Hat

Skill level: Beginner

Supplies:

• Caron Simply Soft in pastel blue, green and yellow. Sorry, but these were left overs so I don't have the color name and number. Which tells me I need to organize my yarn better. I'd suggest digging through your stash for little bits of various colored worsted weight yarns because it doesn't take much and you can use just about any color, especially if you use one color as the base through the entire hat.
  
• Cable needle #10 (US) with 12" cable
  
• One stitch marker
  
• Size G crochet hook
• Needle for weaving in ends

The gauge was approximately 3.25 stitches per inch. However, you should check your gauge simply because I tend to knit loose. I forgot to get an accurate measure of gauge before I popped it in the mail, so this is an estimate.

Pattern:
Cast on 58 stitches using two different colored strands. I started with green and blue. Join, being careful not to twist, and place a marker at the beginning of the round. Continue knitting in the round (this is stockinette stitch) for about 2" from starting row, then change one color. In this picture, I dropped the blue and picked up yellow. I did not cut and fasten off the blue, but just left it to carry up later when I picked it back up.

Continue knitting with the two strands, green and yellow, for another 2 inches (4 inches total from beginning round). Change colors again at the marker, in this case I dropped the green, picked up the blue and continued with blue and yellow. Knit until the total length of your hat is 7 inches, then bind off. 

Finishing
Divide the 'top' of the hat into three equal parts to create a Y-shaped crown, with each leg of the Y of equal length. Using a double strand of one color (in this case yellow), single crochet through each stitch to join the sides of each leg of the Y. I crocheted across two legs and fastened off. I then started at the outside tip of the third leg and when I reached the middle, pulled a loop through the crocheted edging at the center of the other two legs so they were all three attached in the middle. Fasten off and weave in ends.

You can leave the brim of the hat without an edging if you choose, in which case it will naturally roll up (stockinette stitch always rolls on the edges). However, I chose to add a crocheted edging using two strands of the yellow. I crocheted one round of single crochet in each stitch of the brim, then added a second round of half-double crochet. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Useful Tips
The hat is basically a knitted tube, sized to fit your favorite head, with the tri-lobed finish on the crown and a rolled or crocheted edge at the brim, combining two strands of yarn in varying colors to get a variegated effect. You could use any yarn or combination simply by checking your gauge and adjusting accordingly. 

To get the size of the hat, measure your head of choice, then make the hat about 1inch smaller to allow for stretching. For example, if the head measures 18 inches around (which is about average toddler size), check your gauge by knitting a swatch (say three stitches per inch as an example), then multiply 3 stitches/inch times 17 inches (18 inches head measurement minus 1) to get the number of stitches needed for cast on (3 x 17 = 51). Then knit away.

If you have not tried circular knitting, then knit it on a straight needle, remembering to knit the right side row and purl the wrong side row for a stockinette stitch. Then bind off and seam up the hat when it reaches 7 inches in length and finish as above.