If that sounds a bit of a mouthful or has you wondering what on earth Woolly is on about now, think of it as a Sideways Brim to Brim method – and it’s the third sideways method in this series about Hat construction.
So… it’s another sideways Hat method? Yes, totally!
Before I dive in, I suggest having a read of the Hat Construction Guide and the Sideways Linear and Sideways Radial construction articles. They cover a lot of ground between them, talk through what’s different about sideways Hat knitting and how a Hat is structured. I’m not going to cover all of that in this article and without that background info, the construction description may not make total sense. It’ll be worth the read, I promise!
Like the Sideways Linear Construction method and the Sideways Radial Construction method, the stitches within our knitting will travel horizontally and parallel to the brim; a Hat made this way is worked as a series of panels, requires some grafting and allows for easy adjustment of the circumference size. So why is this one different, then?
The Sideways Traverse method is probably closest to the Sideways Linear method, in that all of its shaping is created by short rows. If you missed the bit about how there’s a sideways Hat method that doesn’t use short rows, then do check out the Sideways Radial Construction method article!
The traverse method is so named because our knitting travels from the brim to the brim. And you might say well, Woolly, don’t all sideways Hats do that? Where the selvedge edge is the brim edge and we work those consecutive panels then when we graft, the first and last panels join and the selvedge edge becomes continuous?
Well, yes, but that’s more about the direction of the construction. With this method one row will start at a brim selvedge edge, travel along to the crown, it’ll not stop at the crown and will instead travel through it, and then back down again to the other brim edge. And then you’ll work back again. I’ve named it the Sideways Traverse method because our knitting literally swings from brim edge to brim edge.
Let’s think about this a different way.
Diagram 1: the schematic represents a rectangle of knitting that it wider than it is tall. The arrow indicates the direction of knitting and the direction that the stitches follow. The dashed lines that sit to the left-hand side of the rectangle, to the top and bottom of it, represent the graft lines. And the central dash-dot line would be the fold line.
Imagine you start with a provisional cast-on and knit a rectangle that’s twice as wide as it is tall. You don’t bind off when you’re done; you’ll leave the stitches on a spare needle, and then you’ll release the provisional cast-on and place those stitches on to another spare needle. Next, you’ll fold the work in half horizontally to make a square – half of the released stitches from the provisional cast-on lie on top of the other half, likewise the stitches that you left on the needle when you finished knitting the rectangle. Now you’ll graft those released stitches together, and then you’ll graft the final row stitches together –it’s important to note that these two sets of stitches, the released stitches and the final row stitches – shouldn’t meet. Once the grafting is done, your square will have one open edge. That open edge is your Hat brim. Where you grafted will be your side seams. And the top of the Hat is simply where you folded the knitting.
Now, granted this doesn’t have any crown shaping at all, but it is technically a Sideways Traverse Hat – the rows were knit from one side of brim through the crown to the other side of brim and back again. Each selvedge edge of your knitting will became half of the brim circumference. What makes this method distinct from the other sideways methods is that not only is the crown shaping worked within the panels, but so is the crown finishing. With the Sideways Linear and Sideways Radial methods there’ll always be a need to do a sideways draw-through bind-off, as there’ll always be a tiny hole at the crown. That hole is created by the tiny selvedge that occurs as we shape the crown; it can’t be avoided, because every panel will always have an opening and closing row. Whereas with the Sideways Traverse method, it simply isn’t an issue, because our rows never stop at the crown.
This will have an impact on the crown shaping, because there have to be a few rows for each panel travelling through the crown. But as in the Sideways Radial method, the number of panels is very flexible and as in the Sideways Linear method, the entire crown is shaped by short rows – and that means we can get really clever about where and how we place those short rows to achieve different types of Hat styles and crown shapes.
And as in both the Sideways Linear and Radial methods, should you wish to create any kind of slouch – that is, extra room in the body of the Hat – or otherwise want to change the Hat between the brim and the body, then you’ll use short rows at the brim edge. Just remember that you’re working two lots of brim edges at a time, brim edges that will be opposite each other once the Hat is finished.
the ‘Get Garter - Envelope Slouch’ Hat, rear left view
the ‘Get Garter - Envelope Slouch’ Hat, left view
the ‘Get Garter - Envelope Slouch’ Hat, crown view
If you’ve made the Envelope Slouch from my Get Garter book, you’ll have made a Hat this way, using folding techniques to create the crown shaping and short rows to create the slouch. Techniques wise, this method is no different to the Sideways Linear method – provisional cast-on, short rows and grafting.
Let’s have a look at how our knitting may travel within a single panel of a Hat made this way.
Diagram 2: this schematic shows an example of a Sideways Traverse panel. Each half of the panel is worked separately, the right side is shown first then the left. The short row shaping occurs towards the centre of panel, as this is where the crown would be.
Unlike the Sideways Linear and Radial methods, a Sideways Traverse panel doesn’t quite fit into a neat shape. Because it swings back and forth, from brim edge to brim edge via the crown, we need to consider the number of rows that travel through the crown, so the appearance of the short rows may look offset within a chart or when viewed this way. However, when worked, this one panel is the equivalent to a pair of opposite linear panels and would give us a smooth flat crown.
The Pros and Cons
If you’re looking for a little more challenge in your sideways Hat knitting, this one could be for you. There are also, generally, fewer panels to work, as you’re working two sides of the Hat in one go. And it’s also incredibly satisfying to not have to close a small circle at the crown!
This one, in my opinion, really comes into its own on two counts. Firstly, how it’ll play with hand-dyed, variegated or handspun yarn. Remember in the previous articles how I said that the sideways construction methods make the most of these yarns and vice versa? This method takes it to the next level, as any variation in colour or texture within the yarn will travel through the crown and you can achieve a whole other set of effects.
The second is with the shapes that can be achieved. Because of the extra rows that travel through the crown, some of the more common styles, such as fitted beanies or slouchy Hats with gathered crowns, aren’t quite as straightforward with this method as the other sideways methods. And so, it lends itself to more architectural shapes, more sculptural or structural Hats. Which is no bad thing! Restrictions can become design challenges, and it’s something that personally pushes me to approach a Hat shape or form differently.
The downsides? Those extra rows that travel through the crown might be a fun challenge for some but not for others. There’s also the fact that, assuming a Hat made this way wants to be consistent all the way around the finished Hat, the second half of a traverse panel may mirror the first half, and not everyone can transpose that in their heads – this is certainly one area where I make mistakes with this method.
Then there’s the grafting, and how the setup changes the rules. This is a Hat that will be folded in half and the grafting will replace or be equivalent to two vertical seams, unlike the one grafted seam in the linear or radial methods. When we graft, it replaces one full and complete row. It has a relationship with the two rows either side of it, but it is equivalent to one full row of knitting. If you’ve ever knit a hood of the kind that’s folded in half and grafted, and especially if you’ve made it in garter stitch, maybe with a pattern such as Zimmermann’s Tomten, then you may remember stopping the final row at the midway point. Doing so keeps the graft, and any repeatable pattern, consistent and invisible. And it’s no different with a Hat made this way – that’s why the panel in the schematic above starts and finishes at the panel mid-way point, or at the crown point. This can be a tripping up point, and it’s something to be mindful of.
This is an unusual construction method and I hope this has helped explain it a little! It’s a method I have So Many Ideas for, there aren’t enough hours in the day!
In the Sideways Linear Construction article, I introduced the concept of knitting a Hat sideways, compared to how different it might be to knitting a Hat from the bottom up or top down, and why it’s such a fun and different way to approach Hat knitting.
Today I’d like to talk about another sideways method – the Sideways Radial Construction method. If you’re not familiar with sideways knitting, I’d suggest popping back and reading that first article, and you may find the Hat Construction Guide article helpful, too. In fact, I’d suggest reading these even if you are familiar with sideways Hat knitting, as there’s quite a bit of ground covered and some useful bits of info that I’m going to build on and reference today!
A sideways knit Hat is one where our stitches are turned through 90 degrees. Instead of our stitches following the vertical length of a Hat, from brim to crown, with the rounds we knit being parallel to the cast-on edge as they would in a bottom-up or top-down Hat, the direction of the stitches runs horizontally around the Hat when we knit sideways; the direction of the stitches is parallel to, and the rows we knit perpendicular to, the brim.
One important distinction I make in the Hat Construction Guide article is that it’s the direction of the stitches once the Hat is finished that determines its construction method, not necessarily the direction that we knit in. It’s a subtle but important distinction, because the direction of the stitches helps create the different properties of each method – it’s not just how it’s knit then put together. Today’s construction method will highlight that distinction, and may even challenge what we know about sideways knitting.
Those be big words, Woolly!
Just like the familiar method of sideways Hat knitting, which I’ve named the Sideways Linear method, this method is made up of consecutive panels, one worked after the other. You work one complete panel before starting the next, working the panels consecutively until you’ve reached the intended size. And you still work a little bit of the brim, the body and the crown in each and every row.
The difference with today’s method is that the rows aren’t linear. Let’s have a look at a previous schematic for comparison.
Diagram 1: in this schematic we see the direction of the rows we knit within a Sideways Linear panel. The rows travel back and forth in a straight line.
Diagram 1 shows the typical journey your knitting takes within a single panel of a Sideways Linear Hat, with short rows shaping the crown. Not all styles would look like this; a beret would have short rows at the brim for instance, but this is our starting point. The rows are worked back and forth, in straight lines.
Diagram 2: in this schematic the rows we knit within the panel don’t travel in a straight line, but instead follow a ‘U’ or ‘V’ shape. The direction of our stitches will still be parallel to the brim once finished, but the direction of our knitting has changed.
Diagram 2 shows the journey your rows would take within a Sideways Radial panel. Notice how it starts in the centre, working towards the crown, then comes back on itself before turning at the brim and following the same path back. The rows follows a ‘U’ or ‘V’ shape throughout the panel. The panel doesn’t have to start in the centre; it can start at the outer edge and work inwards, yet the path would be the same.
This is why I’ve named this method the Sideways Radial Construction method. The direction of our stitches is exactly as they would for any sideways knit Hat, that is, they’re horizontal around the head, running parallel to the brim. But the direction we knit in radiates out from the centre of the panel, or vice versa.
A deconstructed Hat made this way would look exactly the same as one using the Sideways Linear method, except the triangles that make up the crown would be a little different. Once we develop our understanding and skills with these methods, we’ll see that the crown shaping doesn’t have to be a particular shape within a panel, or rather – the shaping doesn’t have to follow a set pattern – as long as the overall crown shape is achieved. The panel gets repeated over and over, which makes a pattern of the crown shaping, even if there isn’t a pattern within the crown shaping as we work the panel. Much like how the crown decreases are incorporated into the stitch pattern in my Everglade or Aeonium patterns, or how the short rows in the crown shaping of my Toph pattern are completely hidden. Or how the crown shaping can be a spiral on a simple bottom-up beanie or be a balanced cross.
the ‘Chiral’ Hat
the ‘Mirallat’ Hat
the ‘Duality’ Hat
And the Techniques…
This is where this method gets interesting, again!
If you’ve got to this point and assumed that because it’s sideways then short rows are used to shape the crown, then I’m afraid you wouldn’t be right. This is a sideways method that uses increases or decreases for the crown shaping! If the panel is started centre out, then we use increases, and if it’s worked outside in, then we use decreases.
A sideways knit Hat without any short rows – cool, huh?
Except... not entirely.
If you want to add shaping anywhere else, such as the brim to add a bit of slouch or make a beret, then you absolutely will need short rows for that. It’s only the crown shaping that doesn’t need them, and that’s because the path the knitting takes isn’t linear at the crown end – whereas at the brim end, the path is linear as it meets the selvedge.
Like any other sideways knit Hat, we’d want to aim for a completely seamless finish, which means grafting will be involved. However, with the Hats I’ve designed this way, I’ve not used a standard provisional cast-on, although you could. Instead, I used the winding cast-on – it creates 2 sets of live stitches, which makes starting at the centre of the panel much easier; this cast-on is the opposite of a graft, which I find fascinating. For patterns that start at the outside of the panel then, I’ve used the winding cast-on to start with, worked the panel and grafted it at the centre, then used the second set of live stitches created by the winding cast-on to continue the next panel. Using the winding cast-on essentially reduces the amount of grafting, but it also helps keep the number of rows balanced through the Hat, which is key to making sure the graft works correctly and the pattern stays continuous.
Like the Sideways Linear method, the benefits to making a Hat this way are many. If the panels are narrow, the size is easily adjusted – just work more or fewer to achieve the desired fit. It’s also easy to adjust the size of a panel if it’s started centre-out, especially if the shaping formula is the same throughout. Hand-dyed yarns love these Hats as much, if not more, than the linear method, as they really highlight the construction and have folks asking “how did you make that Hat?!”
Stitch patterns will behave differently because they’re turned on their side, and you could also achieve some really interesting effects by seeing how that crown shaping works with different stitch patterns. Stitch gauge determines depth, row gauge circumference – just the same as the linear method.
If you’re interested in seeing this method in action, the Mirallat pattern and the Lateralis Hats are all made this way. Granted, each of these only uses 2 panels, yet at the time of writing, I’ve a series of designs in progress that use exactly the same method, only with 6 or more panels. It’s a method I want to explore much more; it has a lot of potential. It takes sideways Hat knitting to a whole new level!
When we talk about sideways knitting, it means we’re working horizontally instead of vertically. Our knitting still grows on the needles just the same, but the finished piece will be turned through 90 degrees when it’s finished. Because of this, the properties of the stitches change, which is something I find absolutely fascinating! Where we might use increases or decreases to create shaping, such as the crown of a Hat, when we turn sideways, we use short rows to achieve the same results, and vice versa.
The method of making a sideways knit Hat – the Sideways Linear method – that I’m going to talk about today is the most common method, and it’s often assumed that this is the only way to make a sideways knit Hat – but it’s not! This method may also may be known as a short row Hat or side-to-side Hat. I’ll dive more into some of the other methods in following articles and explain the differences between them.
Before I go any further, I’d like to walk through what makes sideways knitting different from vertical knitting, and how the way we make a Hat changes as we switch it through 90 degrees.
Comparing the Vertical to the Sideways
Let’s remind ourselves of how a vertically knit Hat may look when it’s deconstructed.
Diagram 1: a schematic showing how a vertically knit bottom-up hand-knit Hat looks when deconstructed. There are 8 vertical rectangular panels, each topped with a triangle that represents the crown shaping decreases.
Diagram 1 shows the internal structure of a typical bottom-up beanie with 8 lines of decreases. If we’re knitting in the round, then the left and right edges will be joined. We don’t really notice that we’re knitting in columns or slices, but as a rule we are, as the crown usually determines the mathematical structure of a Hat – to make a simple bottom up beanie like this we’d cast on with a multiple of 8, because there are 8 lines of shaping or 8 points of decrease at the crown. Likewise, we won’t see those triangles at the top, as the crown shaping is worked continuously and consecutively in rows or rounds, but that’s the shape our stitches are creating when we decrease towards the crown.
So, let’s turn that on its side. Because really, that’s all we’re doing when we make a sideways Hat. We’re just turning things on their side.
Diagram 2: in this schematic we see Diagram 1 rotated through 90 degrees, so the rectangular panels now lay horizontally.
As we can see in Diagram 2, those 8 slices with the triangles that make up the crown shaping are there, only we’re seeing them from a different angle. The direction of our knitting has changed, as indicated by the long arrow to the side. But other than that, the innards of the Hat, the mathematical structure – the anatomy – hasn’t changed at all; the shapes are all still the same.
One distinct aspect of knitting a Hat vertically, whether it be top-down or bottom-up, is that we knit each part of the Hat separately and consecutively. In a bottom-up Hat we work the brim, then the body and then the crown, and vice versa in a top-down Hat. Because we’ve turned our knitting sideways, that has changed completely. Instead, we work part of the brim, the body and the crown in each and every row. One row of a sideways knit Hat – because that’s key, we work this method flat, not in the round – will see us work from the brim edge, what would be the bottom of the Hat when worn, to the crown, the top of the Hat when worn, and then back again on the return or wrong side row.
Key Sideways Techniques
To create the crown shaping, and for that matter any other shaping such as a beret may have between the brim and body, we use short rows. The crown short rows would be stacked, in that they’d always occur one or two stitches before the last one, and that’s what creates the triangular shape in the schematic above, much like decreases would. The stitches that have already been short rowed sit dormant at the end of the needle, and they’re equivalent to the stitches that have been decreased in a bottom-up Hat – they’re there, but they’re no longer needed in that section.
And this brings us to an important point. We don’t see the sections or slices in a vertically knit Hat because we knit them simultaneously, within every row or round. Yet in a sideways knit Hat, we knit each section or slice separately and consecutively. I call these sections ‘panels’ in my patterns, as I’ve found that’s terminology most folks seem to be familiar with.
Diagram 3: here we see one single rectangular panel with it’s crown shaping triangle. The lines with arrows represent the direction our rows of knitting take.
Diagram 3 gives us an idea of the journey that the short rows would take within one panel. We’d start at the longest edge, working the short rows as they gradually get shorter throughout the panel, until we get to the end of the panel. We don’t short row every stitch, only those needed for the crown shaping. We’d then knit across all of the stitches – effectively closing the panel – and then start over to create the next panel.
And this is the why I call this method the Sideways Linear Construction method – the direction of our knitting doesn’t change – we knit each row one after the other and every row follows the same linear path. And because it’s a sideways method, we work each panel in turn, one after the other, repeating the panel instructions until the Hat is finished.
Ideally, we’d want a Hat worked this way to be completely seamless, and in every Woolly Wormhead sideways pattern you’ll find instructions to start with a provisional cast-on, then instructions to finish with a graft. A provisional cast-on is a false cast-on that can be removed at a later point, and grafting allows us to join two sets of stitches invisibly, as it mimics one full and complete row. These techniques may be unfamiliar or even daunting to some, and I think this is one of the drawbacks of this construction method, or at least, why this construction method isn’t more popular. Yet the techniques are not beyond anyone and I provide plenty of help via the website tutorials and tutorials within the patterns, as well as support via the forums and in online classes. Making Hats this way is something I get pretty excited about and I want you to enjoy it too, so I make sure I’ve got the skills and support covered ;)
As I mentioned briefly at the beginning of this article, when we turn our work through 90 degrees, the fabric properties and properties of the stitch patterns change. And some wonderful effects can be achieved!
When turned on its side, garter stitch effectively becomes a 1 by 1 ribbing. Garter stitch has a square gauge – 1 stitch = 2 rows or 1 ridge, which simplifies the maths, and that, coupled with its stretchy nature, makes it a popular base stitch for Hats made this way. Other stitch patterns, such as cables, take on a whole other look when we add them to a sideways knit Hat. Cables aren’t very stretchy, yet their attraction lies in the fact that we simply cannot recreate the same look of a cable running horizontally in vertical knitting. Colourwork changes, too – we can create vertical strips of colour without using stranded or intarsia techniques.
the ‘Diponaea’ Hat
the ‘Toph’ Hat
the ‘Construct’ Hat
the ‘Misura’ Hat
Now that I’ve mentioned colour, sideways knit Hats absolutely love hand-dyed, variegated or handspun yarns! The panel nature either breaks up any pooling or makes a feature of it, a bit like a kaleidoscope. So many beautiful and interesting effects can be achieved by pairing a variegated yarn with a sideways Hat. This construction method makes a perfect canvas for these types of yarns; they really come into their own.
Another very useful thing about knitting a Hat this way is that size is so easily adjusted. Sure, you’d want an idea of depth before provisionally casting on, and it’s your stitch gauge that indicates depth, not row gauge, and vice versa. Yet you can decide the circumference as you go, and you can try the Hat on for good measure. And as it’s the brim that’s the only part of a Hat that consistently needs to fit, circumference is more critical than depth – if a Hat is too long you can wear it back for a slouchy look or fold up the brim. In many of my sideways Hat patterns, I’ve been able to offer a wider range of sizes and more customisable options for depth or slouch than my vertical Hat patterns, and that’s all because you don’t need to decide how big the size – the circumference – should be before you cast on.
For me, though, there’s another reason why sideways Hat knitting will always be an all-out winner, and it’s a reason that’s rarely mentioned. Because we knit the same panel over and over, we get the chance to improve our skills. Each panel can act as a swatch if you’re unsure of your yarn choices. This kind of repetition can be good for the brain, practice makes perfect, etc. And there’s more to it than that.
I wouldn’t normally say this out loud, but I tend to get a bit bored knitting vertical Hats. Motivation dwindles part-way through the body, although if it’s a chunky yarn I’ll usually reach the crown shaping and then I’m on the home run. With a sideways knit Hat, it’s different. Each panel is relatively quick, with just enough challenges to keep it interesting but not too many, and the process gets repeated. If you lose your place, it’s not too far to rip back. If you don’t memorise the instructions, then no biggie, it’s just one panel that you need to remind yourself of. There’s no need to wade through a long set of instructions trying to find out where you were.
I have ADHD, and when I finally got my diagnosis, a lot of things fell into place about why I love designing Hats this way, and why I write my patterns the way I do. It also helped me to understand how sideways knitting can be a more accessible approach to making Hats.
the ‘Lenina’ Hat
the ‘Juxta’ Hat
the ‘Marina’ Hat
the ‘Muratura’ Hat
If this has piqued your curiosity, I’ve a lot of sideways Hat patterns to choose from! There’s a whole section you can search through and there’s also some free ones you can start with, too. Toph is my most popular pattern ever, but if colourwork isn’t your thing, Juxta, Muratura or Marina would be good Hats to try.
The final modular method in this series about Hat construction is the Pieced Modular method.
Making a Hat this way has more in common with modular knitting than the other methods. ‘Modular knitting’ has become known as a particular type of knitting, made famous by creative fibre artists such as Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer, and Vivian Hoxbro with domino knitting. Modular means to join, or be made up of smaller parts, and that gives us broad scope in terms of Hat construction.
The Tudor Cap and Hexed patterns are examples of Hats made with a pieced modular construction.
With each of these patterns, the parts that make up the Hat are the same size, and they slot together in formation. Because these 2 particular Hats are not beanies and sit away from the head, they each have a vertically knit band added so that the Hat stays on. This isn’t necessary with all Hats made this way; it really does depend on the style of the Hat and the shape of the pieces, but the majority of the Hats knit this way will be made up of smaller sections. And it’s worthwhile remembering that the pieces don’t all need to tesselate, or be the same size, to make your Hat – think of this method more like knitted patchwork.
Diagram 1: a construction schematic demonstrating the stitch and join lines for a Hat made of hexagons.
Diagram 1 shows an example of how you could create a Hat using hexagons. The solid lines represent the edges that could be joined during the making – whether they be grafted, bound off and sewn, or finished with a crochet bind-off or 3-needle bind-off. The fine dotted lines need to be joined to their neighbouring fine dotted lines to help create the 3-dimensional form that a Hat needs. And the longer dashed lines are the edges that would become part of or be used for creating the brim.
Diagram 2: a construction schematic demonstrating the stitch and join lines for a Hat made of squares.
And diagram 2 shows how we could create a simple beanie using squares. Like the hexagon version, the fine dotted lines will be joined to their neighbouring dotted lines and the dashed lines would become part of the brim.
One of the lovely things about this construction method is that the pieces don’t have to be the same size. So a beanie made from squares as shown above could be spiced up by having one or more of the key square sections made up of smaller squares in different formations.
The squares could be knit with a mitre knitting technique, which would create yet more visual interest within the pattern, especially if a variegated or gradient yarn is used. In using simple shapes, there’s lots of opportunities for creative play within that shape.
the ‘Hat of Horns
the ‘Tudor Cap’ Hat
the ‘Hexed’ Hat
And What About Techniques?
Well, this is where it really is up to you!
The beanie made of squares above would make an ideal Hat for a beginner knitter to practice their skills with, as well as use up oddments of yarn. If you’d like to practice cast-on, bind-off and seaming techniques, a beanie like this is a great place to start.
A Hat made from hexagons or other multi-side shapes would be ideal for practicing provisional cast-on and grafting techniques, but at the same time they’d also work just as well with seaming, something like a blanket stitch for a decorative finish.
This is why this construction method is so versatile – it’ll work for any skill level, and you can decide how you want to finish your Hat and which techniques to use. The shapes can be created flat or in the round or use any kind of method that you’d like to try. They can be bound off and seamed, or each started with a provisional cast-on and grafted. Or you could pick up stitches from neighbouring shapes, with each section growing from another, joining as you go.
A construction method that’s this versatile is hard to pin down and describe, but I hope this article has given you an outline and hopefully some ideas for making your own Hat from simple shapes and oddments of yarn!
Carrying on with modular construction, as we work our way through this series about the different ways to construct a hand-knit Hat, the next method I’m wanting to talk about is combined modular construction.
Beanie Bopper, Encircle and Campello patterns all combine construction methods.
the ‘Beanie Bopper’ Hat
the ‘Encircle’ Hat
the ‘Campello’ Hat
Simply put, ‘combined modular’ means we combine vertical and sideways knitting techniques in one Hat. The examples I’ll talk through today focus on two ways of doing this, but it doesn’t have to be only these two ways. What’s key is that once the Hat is finished, the stitches travel in directions that are perpendicular, or at right angles, to each other.
The Bottom-up Approach
Each of these designs features a band of knitting worked sideways, with stitches then picked up around the upper edge of the band so that the remainder of the Hat can be worked vertically. Done this way, it avoids the shaping techniques that a sideways knit Hat would require, but still adds a bit of interest that only sideways knitting can provide. It also allows us to make the most of the properties of each construction type.
In Campello, the sideways band is worked in garter stitch, which becomes incredibly stretchy when turned on its side, and the folded-up split brim would be harder to achieve without it. In Encircle, the sideways knit band is worked as a tube, which acts as an extra warm band of double knitting. And in Beanie Bopper, not only do we get the benefits of a sideways knit garter stitch brim, but also the fantastic contrast between the way the stitches travel, highlighted by the bulky handspun.
Diagram 1: this schematic of a beanie highlights how the brim can be worked sideways, with the horizontal arrow running parallel with the brim to indicate the direction of the stitches, and the rest of the Hat worked vertically.
Diagram 1 highlights how the two sections might work together.
Hats made this way don’t have to be a beanie shape; they can be any shape you want!
The section that’s worked sideways is usually the brim of the Hat or a lower band, and as that’s where the Hat needs to fit to stay on, it makes the most of the excellent properties that sideways knitting brings to a Hat.
Hats made this way may include some sideways knitting techniques – a provisional cast-on, then grafting to make the brim or band entirely seamless. If the Hat will feature a button at the brim, as it does in Ruislip, then regular cast-on and bind-off methods can be used.
Then we’ll want to pick up the stitches, and it’s mindful to note here that ‘pick up stitches’ is not the same as ‘pick up and knit’! Depending on the shape of the Hat and what’s going to happen next, knitting the stitches as you pick them up might not be helpful, so do keep an eye on that.
From there, the rest of the Hat will use techniques often found in bottom-up vertical knitting – knitting in the round, decreasing and a draw-through bind-off. Hats worked this way are rarely worked flat for the vertical knit sections, as seaming is tricky.
I tend to call this method the ‘Bottom-up Combined Modular’ method. That’s a bit of a mouthful and sounds a little daunting, yet it’s the easiest way for me to remember which is which!
The Top-down Approach
We can also approach the combined method from the other direction, and the Niamh pattern is a good example of this.
With this Hat pattern, the crown and body are worked sideways, so that those striking cables turned on their side would take centre stage. I then wanted to add a ribbed brim, and so the stitches are picked up and worked downwards, before being finished with an elastic bind-off.
Diagram 2: this schematic shows a beanie with the brim worked vertically, as directed by the arrow, and the rest of the Hat worked sideways, as shown by the horizontal arrow.
This schematic shows how the direction of the knitting, and therefore of the stitches, is different from the method above.
This is a less common way of making a Hat, as it usually involves more sideways techniques than the first one, and it’s the short rows that can be trickier to fit into the pattern. But with the right stitch pattern, it can be particularly effective.
Although there are fewer patterns for Hats made this way, it’s a useful method to know – should you make a sideways knit but find it comes up a little short when you wear it, you can simply pick up stitches around the brim and work downwards, effectively extending the length of the Hat without needing to start again.
the ‘Quoin’ Hat
the ‘Incatenato’ Hat
the ‘Niamh’ Hat
There are lots of reasons why making a Hat with a combined modular construction may appeal! Stitch patterns look particularly striking when paired with each other at right angles, and hand-dyed yarns bring a whole other dimension and can bring both the Hat and yarn to life.
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