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How to Knit Two Hats at the Same Time

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How to knit two hats at the same time on the same needlesKnitters are so darn clever sometimes I just can’t get over it.

Tammy Lyons, who blogs at Eclectic Technique, was thinking about that fact that it’s possible to knit two socks at the same time on the same needles, one inside the other, and wondered if she could use the same technique to knit two hats at the same time on the same needles.

The answer was of course, and it’s really cool to think about and look at even if you never do it yourself. But should you ever have to knit hats for twins you can have them done at the same time.

She outlines the technique in three posts on her blog (the first is linked here) but you can also get all the details in a PDF from Ravelry.

Admittedly this is a fiddly process that involves lots of moving around of yarn. But it’s kind of a great parlor trick, and, again, if you needed two hats done at the same time for any reason, you would have them. It might be fun to try just once, to say that you had done it.

Is this something you would try? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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[Photo via Tammy Lyons.]

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Comments

  1. It looks cool but I would never do it. It is way too fiddly and would take me SO much longer than just knitting 2 hats separately. I do knit 2 socks at a time magic loop and I think it saves me a little time because I don’t have to measure to make sure I am making them the same length, etc, but I would never do one inside the other, whether hats or socks or whatever!

  2. I’m a two circular items on 2 circular needles kind of gal. In fact, over the summer I knit 3 identical hats for our 3 daughters at the same time on 2 circular needles. Can’t do that with double knitting!

  4. I found a pattern similar to this one, but the hats were worked so it ended up being one reversible hat. I made it for my husband and he said it’s the warmest hat he has ever worn. Now it’s the only one he wears. It is a little more time consuming but well worth it.

Have you read?

Knit a Fish Pouch, for Reasons

I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]