Saltwater Taffy Hat

This hat was designed to go with the scarf on the "Landscapes" yarn label (seen above).

Yarn: 2 skeins Lion Brand "Landscapes", color Spring Desert
Gauge: 3.5 st./in.
Needles: 1 16" circular needle, 1 set of 5 dpns, in size to get gauge. (I knit very loosely, so these were knitted on a size 7, but you will probably want to try a size 10.)

Center-out Knitting Instructions*:
Cast on 5 st. Purl back. 

Knit, increasing by knitting a loop from below after each stitch to get 8 st.
Divide evenly among 4 needles; join. Place marker at end of row.

Increase 1 stitch randomly per needle every round until you have 15 stitches on each needle.

Increase 1 st. randomly every other row for next 6 rnds, for a total of 18 st. per needle.  Switch to circular needle, placing marker at beginning of round.

Knit 7 rnds evenly.

Purl 1 rnd; knit 1 rnd; p 1 rnd.

Knit 5 rnds.

P1 rnd, k 1 rnd, p 1 rnd.

Knit 12 more rnds; bind off.

Weave in ends, sewing hole at crown of hat shut if necessary; block.

Brim-up Knitting Instructions:
Cast 72 stitches onto circular needle.  Join, placing marker at beginning of round.  Knit evenly for 12 rows.

P1 round; k1 round; p 1 round.

Knit 5 rounds.

P1 round; k1 round; p 1 round.

Knit 7 rounds.

Switch to dpns, with 18 st. per needle on 4 needles.  Decrease 1 st. randomly on each needle every other row for 6 rounds, for a total of 15 st. per needle.

Decrease 1 st. randomly per needle every rnd until there are 8 st. left.  Bind off.  Weave in ends; block.

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*Center-out knitting -- starting off at the center of the hat can be fiddly because there are so few stitches to knit, but it has the advantage that you don't need to do a gauge swatch -- you can just knit until you have enough stitches to measure your gauge, then figure out how many more stitches you need to get the correct circumference.