Knerdy Knitting
where spelling isn't as important as awesome

Thick woolly hats are a wonderful thing, but not when you are trying to wear a bike helmet at the same time. Since my mom rides her bike to work almost every day, knitting a bike helmet liner for her made tons of sense. This hat is thin and machine washable, and the double thickness of the fair isle design keeps it snug and warm. At least that’s the plan.

Now that I have entered the 21st century, I have a PDF of this pattern also available.

Materials
Two balls of Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK Solid (acrylic and nylon), one in white (A) and one in black (B)
Set of five US 6 dpns
Five stitch markers, one of them different to mark the beginning of a round
(Note: This pattern only takes about 75g of yarn, so you will have lots left over.)

Gauge: 6 stitches and 7 rows to 1 inch

Snowflake Pattern

(White squares = knit with A, Black squares = knit with B)

Decorative Round

*k1 with B, k1 with A, repeat from * until end of round

Directions

Cast on 120 stitches in A color. (Be careful these stitches are loose. I used a long tail cast on over two dpns held together.) Arrange the stitches on four dpns such that there are 30 stitches per needle. Place end of round marker one stitch from the end of the fourth needle. Join, being careful not to twist stitches.

Work five rounds in three by three rib, then knit five rounds.

Work decorative round.

Knit three rounds in A.

Work the next eleven rounds from Snowflake Pattern chart, repeating the chart twelve times around the hat.

Knit three rounds in A.

Work decorative round.

Knit five rounds in A. On the last of these round, place a marker every 24 stitches.

Work a five pointed decrease as follows:
*Knit to within three stitches of a marker, k2tog, k1, repeat from * until there are just two stitches between markers. Then k2tog around. Five stitches remain.

Cut yarn and draw throw the five stitches twice. Weave in ends and block as desired.

This one’s for all those Dr Horrible fans out there.  Remember the scene in the beginning of Act II where Penny is eating frozen yogurt with Captain Hammer in the park?  Remember swooning over her wristers?  Ok, maybe I am the only one who answers yes to that second one.  But with a little work I now have wrister just like hers!  Except I put some pretty leaf buttons on the hands, because I could not resist the power of pretty leaf buttons.

(Errata is in red.)

And now, thanks to the lovely and generous Wierdlings, it comes in PDF format! (The PDF has been changed to reflect the errata.)

Here’s an outline of what I did.  I’m new to writing patterns, so I hope it makes sense.

Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Wristers

Materials:

Two balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, one in dark green (A) and one in beige (B)
(You will use about 90% of ball A and about 55% of ball B.)

Size US6 straight needles

Size US6 dpns for the thumb hole

Twelve buttons that fit the buttonholes you’ve made
(I used six 3/4″ leaf button and six 3/4″ green buttons.)

Gauge: 5 stitches per inch, 7 rows per inch

Directions:
Cast on 38 stitches in color A.

Work 2×2 rib in color A for 6 rows.

Work in st st (4 rows in B, 4 rows in A) five times. Carry the color you aren’t working with up the right hand side of the work. Work 4 rows in B one more time.

Make thumb hole (left glove):
Work 20 stitches in A, work 6 stitches with cotton waste yarn, slip 6 cotton stitches back to left needle and work them again in A, work remaining twelve stitches.

Make thumb hole (right glove):
Work twelve stitches in A, work 6 stitches with cotton waste yarn, slip 6 cotton stitches back to left needle and work them again in A, work remaining twenty stitches.

Hand (both gloves):
Work three more rows in A, four rows in B.

Work one row of st st in A, and then five rows of 2×2 rib in A. Bind off using Stretchy Cast-off for 2×2 Rib. (See pattern notes at end.)

Thumb:
Carefully undo cotton stitches, putting bottom six stitches on one needle and top seven stitches on another.

Work across bottom six stitches with B, pick up two stitches in the gap, work across top seven stitches, pick up two in gap. Cast off all thumb stitches.

Button Band:
With A, pick up and knit 45 stitches along side of work farthest from thumb hole (about five for every seven.) (I did this by picking up three, skipping one, picking up two, and skipping one. If you end up with more than 45 stitches, don’t do it over. Just decrease (or increase) to 45 stitches in the next row.) Work two rows in st st, beginning with a wrong side row.

K3, (make a single row button hole, k3) to end (See pattern notes at end.)
Knit two more rows in st st, bind off all stitches.

Weave in all ends and block as desired. Wear while eating frozen yogurt.
Notes:

Single Row Button Hole in Four Easy Steps (I don’t remember where I learned this, but I didn’t come up with it.)

1) Move the working yarn to the other side of the work, slip the next stitch, and move the working yarn back to the original side of work.

2) Slip next stitch from left needle to right needle, pass second stitch on right needle over slipped stitch.  You have bound off one button hole stitch.  Repeat two more times.  Three button hole stitches bound off.  Slip stitch from right needle to left needle.

3) Turn work.  Bring working yarn to back of work.  Using cable cast on, cast on four stitches.  Turn work.

4) Slip stitch from left needle to right needle, pass second stitch on right needle over the slipped stitch.

Stretchy Cast-Off for 2×2 Rib (This one I did come up with)

1)   Transfer the stitches to be cast off to a dpn.  While transferring, rearrange the stitches so that the first stitch is a knit stitch, the second stitch is a twisted knit stitch (the lefthand “leg” of the stitch is in front of the needle), the third stitch is a purl stitch, and the fourth stitch is a twisted purl stitch.

2)  Using a tapestry needle, sew through the first stitch on the needle from left to right.  Sew through the second and first second stitches from left to right.  Drop first stitch on needle.  Turn work.

3) Sew through the second and first stitches on the needle from right to left.  Sew through the third and second stitches on needle from right to left.  Drop first two stitches on needle.  Turn work.

4) Be sure that the yarn is up over the knitting needle and behind the work as you sew. Sew through the second and first stitches on the needle from left to right.  Sew through the third and second stitches on needle from left to right.  Drop first two stitches on needle.  Turn work.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all stitches have been bound off.