PJ’s pumpkin cap is complete and tomorrow, I’ll see if it fits. I’ve made pumpkin caps with leaves and curly stems, but I think they look a little feminine. This one is just a bigger version of the one I made him last year.
The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Mango. The stem is knit from a small skein of leftover yarn that’s like the gift of the Maccabees. Every time I need a small amount of light brown yarn, there it is! I think I bought it years ago when Kmart still carried yarn. I know it’s worsted weight acrylic, but I have no idea what brand it is.
I used 16″ circular US#8 Baleen needles. I knitted a gauge in stockinette and found that I got 4.5 stitches per inch. PJ’s head measures 18.5 inches in circumference. I multiplied the two numbers and rounded up to a multiple of 4. The knit 2, purl 2 pattern of the brim requires a multipe of 4 to complete the pattern. I cast on 84 stitches and joined them together making sure that all the loops were turned in the same direction.(If you twist your cast on row, the garment cannot be fixed, and you just have to unravel and start over!)
I worked in k2,p2 for the length of the index finger on my right hand (I use my pinkie for newborn caps!) I used the cast on tail to tell me when I’d completed a round. I changed to knitting every row for stockinette. That’s the beauty of circular knitting; knitting every row in the round gives you stockinette, and you don’t get those ridges that come from purling tighter that you knit or visa versa! I continued in stockinette for the length of my middle finger (I usually use my index finger…I like using my fingers for measurement. That way, I always have my rulers with me!)
At this point, I tried the cap on PJ, carefully holding my needles so the stitches would not slide off. I began my decrease:
Knit 4, knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 3 knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 3, knit 2 together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 2, Knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Change to double pointed needles (I didn’t have 8’s, so I used 6’s. that made the cap get smaller, too.)
Knit next round
Knit 2 together all the way around(that left me with app. 16 stitches.)
I tied on the light brown yarn.
I worked app. 6 more rounds using the light brown yarn. This formed the stem.
I finished by knitting two together all the way around, cutting my yarn leaving a 4 inch tail. I threaded a large tapestry needle with the tail and ran it through the remaining loops on my needles. I gathered them up as I removed them from the needles. I pushed my needle through to the wrong side, turned the cap inside out and knotted the tread. I wove the brown tail through the wrong side of the stem and trimmed it.
I cut the remaining mango (orange) thread from the skein and secured that tail and the original one. I turned it right side out, folded the brim, and there you have it! I hope it fits.