Chunky marled yarn makes colorful, warm, and quick-to-knit accessories. This week we’re looking at Universal Yarn Major, a great example of marled yarn. Yesterday’s post covered four practical, free knitting Universal Yarn patterns. Today, I’ve developed a fun design that features a spiral created by textured decreases.
Put a spin on a traditional beanie or toque with Major yarn and textured decreases.
This beanie is knit from the bottom up. Major is the perfect yarn for this because it creates gradient stripes in decently wide swaths. At least that is perfect for me: I like substantial stripes in a hat. Rather than just knit the crown in plain stockinette, I thought I’d add a textured stitch.
The gradient stripes in Major transition nicely from one to the other and are enhanced by this spiral texture
This is partially so that I don’t get too bored when I’m knitting. I’m not one to enjoy knitting plain rounds for thousands of stitches — I need something to look forward to, something to count. So that’s why I added these capped stitches to create the texture. As I was knitting, I noticed by the second round that this texture would lend itself to a spiral look, and it could be made without causing a loss of stitches or it could be used as a decrease itself.
This colorway for this hat is called Russet. I really like the way these warm earth tones blend from light to dark and back again.
To make this stitch without decreasing,
Slip 1 purlwise, yarn over, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over first 2 loops on the right-hand needle.
I’m calling this capped stitches (csts) because it’s not a bind off, nor is it a tuck stitch, nor even a wrapped stitch.
If you were to place a stitch marker just before a capped stitch, and then continue to work capped stitches on following rounds, the stitch marker would gradually move towards the right because the capped stitches adjust the position of all the stitches. Even though a yarn-over is added, the column of stitches shifts over by one.
To make this stitch with a decrease, do the following:
Slip 1 purlwise, knit 2, pass slipped stitch over first 2 loops on the right-hand needle. I’m calling this capped stitch decrease (cstdec). By leaving out a yarn-over, you actually lose 1 stitch each time you work a pair of capped stitches, as if it were a SKP (slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped st over) decrease.
Capped stitches with or without decreasing create a lovely spiral effect when used while knitting in the round.
To knit this beanie, you need a 16″ [40cm] long size US 10 [6mm] circular needle. If you don’t like to work magic loop, then you’ll also need a set of 4 or 5 double-pointed needles the same size to the shorter rounds near the top. It’s an adult-size hat, and you don’t need to worry about gauge as long as you’re getting 14 to 17 stitches to 4″ [10cm].
The Beanie Pattern
Ribbing
Cast on 60 sts, join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist.
Rnd 1: [K2, p1, ktbl, p1] around.
Rep Rnd 1 until ribbing measures 3″ [8.5cm]
Next Rnd: K6, [m1, k12] 4 times, m1, k6. 165 sts. Place marker (pm) to denote beginning of round.
Sides
Rnd 1: [Csts (see definition above), k11] 5 times.
Rnd 2 (and all subsequent even rounds): Knit around.
Rnd 3: K1, [csts, k11] 4 times, csts, k10.
Rnd 5: K2, [csts, k11] 4 times, csts, k9.
Rnd 7: Knit 1 more st past marker than previous odd row, [csts, k11] 4 times, csts, knit to marker.
Rnd 8: Knit.
Rep Rnds 7 & 8 until the capped stitches straddle the stitch before and after the marker, remove marker for this round, then continue in pattern as established until beanie from cast-on edge measures 6″ [15cm]. You may return the marker to its place to indicate the beginning of the round.
Decreasing for crown
The beginning of the round will appear to shift substantially during the decrease rounds, so a locking stitch marker attached to the first stitch would be a practical way to keep track of the actual beginning of the round.
Rnd 1: [Cstdec (see definition above), k10] 5 times. 60 sts
Rnd 2 (and all subsequent even rounds): Knit.
Rnd 3: K1, [cstdec, k9] 4 times, cstdec, k8. 55 sts
Rnd 5: K2, [cstdec, k8] 4 times, cstdec, k7. 50 sts
Rnd 7: K 1 more stitch past marker than previous odd rnd, [cstdec, knit 1 fewer st between capped sts than previous odd rnd] 4 times, cstdec, knit to marker. 45 sts
Rnd 8: Knit.
Rep Rnds 7 & 8 until you have 10 sts.
Last rnd: [K2tog] 5 times.
Securing the top
Thread the yarn onto a large-eyed yarn needle and insert the needle through all the stitches and cinch the top of the beanie closed. Then weave in all ends. This knitted beanie looks perfect in Universal Yarn Major in the Russet colorway!
Join me tomorrow, I’ll show you some different options for finishing this beanie pattern.
Put a spin on a traditional beanie or toque using Major yarn and these witty textured decreases – Free pattern you’e going to LOVE!
This is part 4 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 3: 4 free patterns to knit with Major yarn
Go to part 5: A knitted beanie is enhanced by twisting stitches in the ribbing
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2 comments
will this pattern be published on craftsy or ravelry in the future?
At the moment, any page on Knitmuch.com can be converted to a PDF directly from the link at the bottom of the page. Eventually, there will be a PDF download on Ravelry.com. Thanks for your inquiry.