Mesuneko Hat - A Swatchless Take on the PussyHat Theme

A friend asked me to knit a PussyHat for her (see PussyHat project page for more information). And since I'm not the kind of person to follow a pattern, I started doing it my way. In any case, I like to knit with yarn that's not so bulky (fingering weight for preference) and I only found one pattern for a PussyHat in fingering weight. Plus, I prefer patterns where you can start knitting without any measuring and swatching. And that's just what I did. I started knitting the ribbing sideways and held it around my head to see whether it was long enough. That's why the hat is knitted in two directions: first the ribbing is knitted sideways and flat - then, the main part is knitted bottom-up and in the round.

In the end, I knitted one hat in Fingering and one in DK weight. The first hat was in Fingering weight and knitted on slightly too big needles (i.e. the ones I usually use to get a nice and light texture) - so the fabric wasn't stiff enough to make the "ears" stick out. So tinked the last rows and did the three-needle BO from the outside. The crisp upper edge made the ears stick out better. Furthermore, I knitted a second one with DK weight yarn and needles that were slightly smaller than what the yarn called for - and that worked quite well to get the PussyHat look.

Yes, I know, it's rather late in the day to publish a PussyHat pattern ... but anyway, here's my take at the PussyHat theme.

Mesuneko (メス猫) is the japanese word for a female cat.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Materials

• about 80 grams of DK weight yarn - however, the pattern is written in a way that it can easily adapted to other yarn weights
• 3.25mm needles (straight or circular)
• 3.75mm needles (circulars or dpns)
• a third needle for Three-Needle Bind-Off
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Provisional Cast-On: This method of cast-on usually uses some waste yarn that can be remove later to get live stitches, these stitches can either be used to continue knitting in the opposite direction or to graft these stitches to the rest of your piece. My favourite method is the one using a crochet hook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeExgbgTOgs). The first time you use your working yarn, will be called setup row in this pattern.
• Three-Needle Bind Off: The three needle bind-off is used to attach two pieces of knitting (or to ends of one piece of knitting) to one another - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video - alternatively you can close the upper edge with Stockinette Grafting (Kitchener Stitch). Here’s a video from knittinghelp.com that shows the technique.
• Picking up stitches from the side and knitting them (pick up and knit): https://youtu.be/4XtGL8vJf-g or https://youtu.be/htAHtNnuE7Q or https://youtu.be/oUPhLYkC0Fw 

Instructions

Ribbing
Provisionally CO 20 sts (if you use heavier yarn (e.g. bulky), I'd advise to cast on less stitches for the ribbing).
Setup Row: k all
Row 1: sl1 wyif (p-wise), k to end
Row 2: sl1 wyif (p-wise), p to end
Row 3: sl1 wyib (k-wise), p to end
Row 4: sl1 wyib (k-wise), k to end
Repeat rows 1 to 4 until the brim fits around your head when stretched - end with a row 3.
Put stitches from provisional CO on another needle. Hold ends together and do a three needle BO. Do not bind off the last stitch.

Main Part
Starting from the leftover stitch pick up and knit stitches all around the rim (from the side of the ribbing). Per 8 rows of ribbing, pick up 5 sts (see picture to the right). Then go on knitting in the round in stockinette stitch until the hat is as high as you want it to be.

For me this was the case, when the whole of the hat (ribbing plus main part) measured xx cm in height.

Distribute your stitches evenly on two needles and do a three-needle bind off - if you do this from the outside, the ears will stick out more prominently.

Weave in ends and enjoy wearing your hat!