It has taken a while to finish this watchcap pattern. The pattern is simple, but the knitting is tedious. Round and round we go with knit one, purl one. The decreasing is unique, and the end product is totally worth the monotonous knitting. See the pattern link down the page.

Hats are good traveling projects, and I knit a lot of this one in the truck while taking local trips.

I chose this orange yarn envisioning walks in the woods in Autumn when cool, crisp hiking weather coincides with hunting season. It is bright enough to work as hunter orange.

Yarn used: Camp Colors in Orange, fingering weight. Needles: Size 0 for cast on, Size 1 to knit.

If you dislike double-pointed needles, like I do: When the pattern said to transfer stitches to 4 DPNs, I used one type of stitch markers to divide for the DPN placement (little black markers). I used another type to mark the decreases (colorful pin markers).

This pattern can be made as a watchcap with a rolled up brim, or a shorter version with no roll. The longer hat can be worn slouchy. I had previously knit this hat using Camp Colors yarn in light blue.

Get the pattern here: Ribbed Watchcap and Beanie

Pattern Review

The pattern is well written with directions that are easy to follow. Information is included for those who wish to do a tubular cast-on, which I did not do, but may try if I knit it again.

Remember that the hat is being knit with the wrong side facing.

Be careful weaving in the ends and remember which side will be facing, including with the brim rolled.

*Tip: I despise DPNs and knit nearly all of the crown decreases with circular needles. I kept the 16” circular for quite a while, then changed to a 9” circular. Eventually I went to 4 DPNs when there were fewer stitches to worry about.

The unisex design works for anyone, and information is given if you want to make it smaller around for the little ones.

I think this hat would look nice knit with any type of fingering weight yarn. A solid color will show mistakes more clearly, as you can probably see I made some!

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