Centennial Hat Instructions

One of the members of my Yahoo Group wanted to adapt a hat she saw in a Mini Series Centennial (from the late 1970's.) One of the characters wore this hat, and her friend wanted something like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du5DW0nBHy4
Robert Conrad is wearing the hat... a dirty orange/red stocking type hat.

I created these generalized instructions for this hat, using Tunisian Simple stitch.

My hat is based on the average head size of 22 inches. I'm using Red Heart worsted weight yarn with a K sized hook. This is one size smaller than what I normally use with Worsted Weight yarn, but I wanted a stiffer fabric than normal... and yes, it is curling, but that will be conquered later. It took all of a 7 oz skein, and since it needed to be bigger, I’m going to suggest you have 8 oz of yarn on hand to finish this hat, if you use a K sized hook. The larger hooks won’t require as much yarn.

1. With your chosen Yarn and Hook, stitch a swatch to determine your Stitches Per Inch. A swatch is a piece of fabric worked in your chosen stitch, that is 4 inches square. Most experts recommend measuring from the middle of the swatch for a more accurate stitch count.

2. Measure the circumference of the head this hat will cover, and if you can get them to sit still long enough, measure from the bottom of the ear to the crown.

3. Multiply the number of ‘Stitches per Inch’ by the ‘Circumference of the Head’ measurement to determine the number of chains to begin with.

Row 1: Forward- Pick Up loops in ea ch. Return as you normally would.
Row 2: Forward- Tss in ea st, work last st. Return.
Repeat Row 2 until it is about half the length of the width, or the measurement from the bottom of the ear to the crown.

I’ve noticed that with most head measurements that the height of the head is a little less than half of the circumference of the head. If the head is 22 inches around, then stitch the fabric until it measure 11 inches.

IMPORTANT: Stitching the height of the body of the hat will look huge! But go ahead and stitch until it is half as tall as it is wide. For this 22" hat, it should have been 11 inches tall, not the 8" that I stitched. In my sample, the tail wasn’t long enough to reach the brim, and I had to make the brim much taller than normal.

If you do NOT want to stitch a Ribbing for the brim of the hat, continue stitching this section until it is 2-3 inches longer than ½ of the width. For my 22 inch hat, that would mean stitching the height of this section to 13-14 inches tall.

Once you have stitched the main body of the hat, you will begin decreasing on both ends AND in the middle to create the ‘stiff’ crease in the front and back. If you want a more relaxed looking hat, just decrease on the ends.

For Odd Numbered stitches- find the 5 stitches in the middle of the row, and mark them with a thread.
For Even Numbered stitches- find the 4 stitches in the middle of the row, and mark them with a thread.

For Odd Numbered stitches- Tss2tog, then Tss up to the marked stitches. Tss2Tog, Tss, Tss2tog, then Tss across the rest of the row, work last st. Return: Yo, pull through 2 loops (decrease made), then continue Return as you normally would.

Next Row: Tss2tog, then Tss up to the Center Stitches. Tss2Tog, Tss, Tss2tog, then Tss across the rest of the row, slip hk under both threads of the last st (Decrease St). Return: Yo, pull through 2 loops (decrease made), then continue Return as you normally would. Repeat this row to desired length for the top of the hat. Single Crochet in each stitch for the last row. End off.

Stitch back seam together, weave tails.

For Even Numbered stitches- Tss2tog, then Tss up to the marked stitches. Tss2Tog, Tfs (in between the stitches), Tss2tog, then Tss across the rest of the row, work last st. Return: Yo, pull through 2 loops (decrease made), then continue Return as you normally would.
Next Row: Tss2tog, then Tss up to the Center Stitches. Tss2Tog, Tss, Tss2tog, then Tss across the rest of the row, slip hk under both threads of the last st (Decrease St). Return: Yo, pull through 2 loops (decrease made), then continue Return as you normally would. Repeat this row to desired length for the top of the hat. Single Crochet in each stitch for the last row. End off.

Ribbing Section:
Turn the hat over and work from the back of the hat. Attach yarn to beginning chain of hat.
Pick up loops in ea ch st across row, Return as you normally would.
Rows 2+: Forward- (Tps, 2 Tks,) Repeat across row, working last st as you normally would. Return.
Repeat this until brim is desired height, then Single Crochet in each stitch for last row. End off.
Stitch back seam, and weave tails.