The "thinker's hat" featured on the shop/fiber studio's facebook page last week (https://www.facebook.com/gracefulartsfibersyarnshop) can be knitted top down or bottom up. The multicolored hat at the bottom and the blue and purple one above it to the left were knitted from the crown down; the one at the upper right was knitted from the brim upwards. What's the difference? If you've got a seemingly infinite amount of yarn, you can do either. But when using handspun or a measured weight of yarn, not knowing how far the amount I had would stretch, hat-wise, it seemed best to begin at the top and then get as long as I could go.

I'm going to present the two methods here, for them who wants them - first, the brim-up method. This hat may be knitted in Aran worsted weight (or chunky), back and forth on single pointed needles, size 8 (or 10) or in the round on double-pointeds. As the knitter, you’ll have to think about your choices. The wearer will have a little ventilation at the crown of the hat to let thoughts blaze a trail all their own!

Body of hat Cast on 72 (60). Knit for length needed – for an adult, this means at least 8 inches. This is stockinette knitting – plain knitting all around if you’re knitting on dps, or knit and purl ONLY  if you're knitting on straight needles.
 Crown of hat 
 K 6 (K 7), YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
K 5 (K6) YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
 K 4 (K5) YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
K 3 (K4) YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
 K 2 (K3) YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
 K 1 (K2) YO, knit three together 8 (6) times around.
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.
(K1, YO, knit 3 together around
 Purl one row or knit one round plain.)
Finishing
Cut yarn, leaving a longer “tail” if you knitted back and forth. Run yarn through all remaining crown stitches and secure. If needed, sew a seam down the side of the hat and fasten off. The hat’s brim will naturally roll upwards.

Okay, that was easy enough. But the crown-downwards mode I've continued with the mittens (next week's pattern) seemed safest for the 70 grams of yarn I'd allotted for the hat.

Also, please note, there are more increases to the round on this version, which gets you the circumference you'll want faster! You need double-pointed needles - long ones work best for me.


 I began by wrapping the tail of the yarn twice around two fingers, then pinching the double ring in my left hand. With one needle at a time in my right hand and the yarn from the ball, YO, pick up one stitch three times (six stitches on needle); pick up a second needle and repeat, pick up a third needle and repeat. You will end up with 18 stitches on three needles.
Next round - YO, knit 2 (three times) - on each needle (27 stitches)
next round - Knit every stitch on all three needles.
 next round - YO, knit 3 (three times) - on each needle (36 stitches)
 next round - knit every stitch on each needle
 next round - YO, knit 4 (three times) - on each needle (45 stitches)
 next round - knit every stitch on each needle
 next round - YO, knit 5 (three times) - on each needle (54 stitches)

You can see why it's called a "thinker's hat" - those holes you can see when you hold your knitting up to the light are for an exchange of ideas!


 next round - knit every stitch on each needle
YO, K 6 (three times) on each needle (63) stitches
(for bulky yarn, stop increasing here)
next round - knit every stitch on each needle
(if using worsted weight yarn), YO, K 6 (three times) on each needle (72) stitches
At this point, with whatever weight of yarn you're using, you'll keep knitting in continuous rounds, around and around - and it surprisingly doesn't take long! - until you've got just enough yarn left to bind off with. How do you know? When you look perilously close to the end of the ball, measure off two "wingspans" (that is, the amount of yarn you can hold between two hands stretched in opposite directions with arms wide apart). Then you bind off and sew in the ends. Seriously, you could make quite a lot of these in a week, even if you're knitting onstage, which is known to not be the best place to concentrate on needlework...