Loom Knit Doll Hat Project -- The Adelaide

I've got a goal to have knitted at least fifty doll hats within the next fifty days to sell at a huge neighborhood yard sale in the fall.  To my surprise, I found there were very few doll hat patterns available for free on the internet.  This is a pity since a doll hat is a very good project for a beginning loomer and it isn't always obvious how a full-sized hat pattern should be changed to be appropriate for a doll.  Therefore, I've decided to share my notes on creating and converting hat patterns to fit 18" dolls (such as the American Girl, Journey Girl, Our Generation, or My Life dolls).

Adelaide -- A Fair Isle Knit Hat

Fair Isle knitting gets its name from a tiny island in the northern part of Scotland.  It uses multiple colors to make a pattern. 

Pattern Information

Knitting Loom:  Knifty Knitter 24 peg "Preemie" loom

Yarn:  
     Color A:  Red Heart "Lavender" #4 size yarn
     Color B:  Caron "Creme" #4 size yarn
     Color C:  Caron "Pale Green" #4 size yarn

Skill Level: Intermediate

Abbreviations:
     k = knit
     p = purl
     ew = e-wrap
     skip = pass the working yarn behind the peg without knitting or purling

Instructions:

With Yarn Color A, cast on 24 pegs.

BRIM  
Row 1:  Knit to end

Rows 2-20:  Repeat Row 1

When you've completed Row 20, find the first stitch (the end of your yarn should still be dangling from it). Loop the first stitch back up over Peg #1.  Continue around the loom until the entire first row is looped back up onto the loom. Knit the last row of stitches over the first row of stitches.

BODY 


This pattern involves a lot of yarn switching.  I dutifully started to write each switch out as I usually do... but I am chickening out. It makes the project seem much more complex and confusing than it actually is.

Instead, I am going to give you the chart for this pattern:

It is a free design courtesy of the Tricksy Knitter website.  As you see, it conveniently accounts for 24 pegs and 30 rows.  The yarn colors for the hat I made translate as follows:

Yarn Color A = Black squares
Yarn Color B = White squares
Yarn Color C = Grey squares

I made Row 1 solid lavender instead of solid creme, but otherwise I stuck with the chart.

Knit where you see a square in the yarn color it corresponds to.  Skip (letting the yarn pass behind the peg) where you see a square in a different color.  The rows with squares of two colors you will end up working twice.  For example, in Row 2 on the chart, you will start by knitting once with Yarn Color B, then skipping five pegs, knitting three pegs, skipping five pegs, knitting three pegs, skipping five pegs, and then knitting two pegs. 

Stitching down "droopy loops" inside the hat

If you'll notice, Row 19 of the chart calls for all three colors of yarn.  You will therefore end up working this particular row three times as you alternate knitting and skipping with each color.

Skipping so many pegs did leave a lot of "droopy" yarn inside this little hat.  I turned the hat inside out and secured the loose loops by sewing them in place with a strand of Yarn Color B on my plastic tapestry needle, careful to not let my yarn poke through to the right side of the hat.


Bind off using gathered removal method.




TIP
This pattern was designed to be made with many different colors of scrap yarn. I strongly suggest that for the doll-sized version of this hat you pull off a few yards of yarn and wind them into a ball as if it was scrap.  The pattern switches color frequently and asks you to drop the yarn you are not using through the loom to wait its turn.  Pulling a skein of yarn back and forth through a "preemie" sized loom is no fun, let me tell you!