Knit a Snug Hat with the Pentacap Knitting Pattern

Woolly Wormhead is well known for their interesting hat designs, which often use different construction methods or design elements to make a hat that looks a bit different from the usual beanie.

The Pentacap is a free pattern on the Woolly Wormhead website that is worked from the bottom up with a wide garter stitch brim and a braided accent before you work the body in stockinette stitch.

Because it’s worked in the round you have to knit a round and purl a round to make garter stitch, while stockinette is straight knitting, which is kind of a fun twist for your brain.

Once you’ve worked the body, the top is shaped with five decreases, thus the name of the hat.

It’s meant to be snug and close fitting, but there are a range of sizes available so you can knit a slightly larger hat if you don’t like it so snug or if you have a lot of hair that needs to be able to fit underneath the hat.

The sizes are for actual head measurements ranging from 19 to 25 inches, with the hat itself measuring 16 to 22 inches when knit.

It uses worsted weight yarn and requires knowing how to work a crochet cast on, knitting and purling in the round, a bind off braid and the knit 2 together decrease. (The pattern explains how to do the bind off and it looks pretty easy even if you’ve never done something like that before.)

You can get the free pattern from Woolly Wormhead.

Looking for more fun hats to knit? Check out my review of Woolly Wormhead’s book, Knit Hats with Woolly Wormhead. It is full of all sorts of interesting patterns that are sure to turn heads!

[Photo: Woolly Wormhead.]

Next Pattern:

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply