Football

My friend Jana, whom I met when we were 5 years old and her family moved in next door to us, just had her second child.  A little boy.  Since they all live in Texas and I'm here in the PNW, I haven't met the little guy yet.  They are coming up for a visit in a couple of weeks and I'm super excited!

Jana, her husband Brad and my whole family are all huge (and I really mean huge) college football fans.  Jana, Brad, Jeremy and I all went to WSU.  As I type this, "game day" is on the TV.  The Cougs don't play until 7:30 pm and will surely loose; but we'll watch and cheer anyway.

(Don't worry, this post will make sense soon.)

I always make something - knitted or sewed - for little babies of my close friends.  Recently I was looking through a catalog and I saw a knitted football hat for a boy.  It was so cute and I thought, "I could make that."  So I did.

Here are the instructions ...

I followed this pattern. It's very, very easy.  It took me three nights, watching TV and knitting to make that hat.

You'll need size 6 (or 7 depending on your gauge) circular knitting needles and one ball, weight 4, brown yarn and one ball, weight 4, white yarn and a weaving needle.  You're not going to knit in a round; you treat the circle needles as if they were regular straight needles.  The reason why you use the round needles is just because of how many stitches you are working with.  You could also use very long straight knitting needles if you prefer.

The gauge is 22 stitches equals 4 inches and 30 rows equals 4 inches.  When I did the gauge with the size 6 needles it was too small, so I used the size 7.  It will probably be little too big for a 3 month old; I think size 7 needles made a size for a 1-2 year old.  But size 6 needles would have been for a new born.

Starting with the brown yarn,
Cast on 96 stitches.
For the ribbing, knit 2, purl 2 across.
Turn you work and repeat knit 2, purl 2 across.
Keep repeating until the ribbing is 1 1/2 inches wide.

From here you are going to work in stockinette stitch, which creates a rights side and a wrong side to the hat.

Knit across, turn and purl across.
Repeat, knit across,turn and purl across.
You have four rows of stockinette stitches.
Cut the yarn leaving a tail.
Tie on the white yarn.

With the white yarn, knit across, turn and purl across.
Cut the white yarn leaving a tail.
Tie on the brown yarn.

Repeat knit across, turn and purl across until you have a total of 14 rows of stockinette stitches.
Cut the brown yarn, leaving a tail.
Tie on the white yarn.
Knit across, turn and purl across.
Cut the white yarn, leaving a tail.
Tie on the brown yarn.

To shape the crown, all odd rows you'll knit and decrease stitches.  All even rows you'll purl across.
Row 1: knit 10 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (you have 88 stitches)
Row 3: knit 9 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (80 stitches)
Row 5: knit 8 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (72 stitches)
Row 7: knit 7 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (64 stitches)
Row 9: knit 6 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (56 stitches)
Row 11: knit 5 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (48 stitches)
Row 13: knit 4 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (40 stitches)
Row 15: knit 3 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (32 stitches)
Row 17: knit 2 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (24 stitches)
Row 19: knit 1 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (16 stitches)
Row 21: knit two stitches together - repeat across (8 stitches)
Bind off all stitches and tie a knot, leaving a long tail.

Weave the yarn through the 8 stitches and pull to close, tie a knot.
Flip the hat inside out and weave the sides together down the back of the hat.
At the bottom, tie a knot, cut tail to 2 inches long.  Weave the tail back up inside the hat.
Cut the other tails (from the white/brown colors) to 1 inch long.  Flip right side out.

Cut a length of white yarn (about an arm's length).  Stitch the laces on to the front of the hat, tying a knot win both ends to secure.  Cut the tails to 1 inch long.

11-22-13 Update - Hat on Child
Here is a picture of Austin wearing the hat.  Pretty darn cute!

11-16-14 Update - Adult Hat
I adapted the pattern to fit an adult.  I didn't make it to look like a football.  Instead I did one large stripe - green and blue for my Seahawks!  Here's the pattern for an adult regular size hat.

You'll size 7 circular knitting needles and one ball, weight 4, green and one ball, weight 4, blue and a weaving needle.  Same gauge as for the child's hat, 22 stitches equals 4 inches and 30 rows equals 4 inches.

Ribbing:
Starting with the green yarn, cast on 100 stitches.
For the ribbing, knit 2, purl 2 across.
Turn you work and repeat knit 2, purl 2 across.
Keep repeating until the ribbing is 1 1/2 inches wide.

Body of the Hat:
Body of hat is in stockinette stitch.
Knit across, turn and purl across (2 rows)
Repeat, knit across,turn and purl across until you have 8 rows.
Cut the yarn leaving a tail.
Tie on the blue yarn.

With the blue yarn, knit across, turn and purl across (2 rows).
Repeat, knit across, turn and purl across until you have 8 rows.
Cut the yarn leaving a tail.
Tie on the green yarn.

Repeat knit across, turn and purl across until you have 10 rows of green.  You have a total of 26 rows for the body of the hat (between the ribbing and the crown).

Shape the crown:
All odd rows you'll knit and decrease stitches.  All even rows you'll purl across.
Row 1: knit 10 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 3: knit 9 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 5: knit 8 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 7: knit 7 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 9: knit 6 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 11: knit 5 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 13: knit 4 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 15: knit 3 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across - knit the last 4 stitches
Row 17: knit 2 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across (this time you decrease the last 2)
Row 19: knit 1 stitches, knit two stitches together - repeat across
Row 21: knit two stitches together - repeat across
Bind off all stitches and tie a knot, leaving a long tail.

Weave the yarn through the last stitches and pull to close, tie a knot.
Flip the hat inside out and weave the sides together down the back of the hat.
At the bottom, tie a knot, cut tail to 2 inches long.  Weave the tail back up inside the hat.
Cut the other tails (from the green/blue colors) to 1 inch long.  Flip right side out.

For an extra large adult hat, cast on 104 stitches.  Do 28 rows for the body.  To form the crown, start with 11 stitches, then stitch two together.  The extra large fits my husband.  The regular adult fits me (see pic below) and my 12 year old daughter.

Here is a picture of the regular adult (green/blue) and child (purple) sized hats.

And me in the regular adult-sized hat (with a pom pom add to the top - because it's cute)