|
Rasta Hat Knitting
The
Rastafarian hat, or Rastafarian Crown, sometimes also known as a "Rasta
Tam", is a baggy, loose-fitting beret, made to allow a wearer to
contain their ever-growing dreadlocks. They are often made in a bright
Jamaican color scheme, including black, yellow, green, and red, but can
obviously be made in any combination of colors that suits your fancy.
There
are many more Rasta hat crochet patterns than Rasta hat knitting
patterns, as the hat can be built in a smooth spiral that is well
suited to crochet techniques, but there are a few knitting patterns as
well.
Choose
your yarn - lightweight cotton is often
popular for this hat, but wool and acrylics can work just as well - and
measure the circumference of the recipient's head carefully.
The
Rasta hat knitting pattern is often worked from the crown downward,
unlike many patterns which start at the brim and work up. You can leave
a long tail of yarn when you cast on a small ring of stitches on
double-pointed needles, and thread this tail through that first row in
order to tighten up the opening at the top.
After
that, you just need to work your favorite increases at regular
intervals - perform them frequently within each round, and on every row
to introduce a very shallow slope to the cap. Continue until the floppy
part of the Rasta hat is the diameter you desire, then work a row or
two even. You can increase the number of even rows if you want a
deeper, roomier cap - useful if your gift recipient has thick and ample
dreads!
Now go on
to working frequent decreases in a
near mirror-image of the top half of the cap. You will probably want to
add the occasional even row to make the taper less shallow.
Measure the hat opening with a flexible measuring tape when you get
close to the proper head circumference (or try the hat on if it's for
you).
You can
now do a simple stretchy bind-off if
you want a plain edge, or you can work evenly in a garter stitch or
stretchy ribbed stitch such as K3 P3 if you want a stretchy edge.
|
