Cypress Aviator Hat in Valley Yarns Superwash - Downloadable PDF

Cypress Aviator Hat by Julie Turjoman – Knitting Pattern Summary

The Cypress Aviator Hat, pattern number #1173, is an original design by Julie Turjoman, published by Valley Yarns in 2021. This charming knitted hat is styled as a classic aviator-style hat, complete with earflaps and a turn-up front brim, making it an ideal cold-weather accessory for the youngest members of the family. The pattern is sized for infants and toddlers, covering a range from 0–6 months through 18–24 months, and is rated as an Adventurous Beginner project — perfect for knitters who have mastered the basics and are ready to explore simple shaping techniques.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a snug, stretchy knitted aviator hat designed for babies and toddlers. It features a textured garter stitch band at the lower edge, a stockinette stitch body with evenly spaced purl stitch accents, shaped earflaps that fasten with buttons, and a turn-back front brim. The hat is both functional and adorable, described in the pattern as making an excellent handmade gift. Finished head circumference measurements range from 12 inches (0–6 months) to 18 inches (18–24 months), with the band designed to stretch up to 2 inches larger for a comfortable, adaptable fit.

Construction and Techniques

The Cypress Aviator Hat is constructed using a combination of working in the round and working back and forth in rows, making it a great pattern for knitters looking to build confidence with both methods. The construction flows logically from the bottom up:

• Long-Tail Cast On: The hat begins with a Long-Tail cast on, a versatile and elastic method well-suited to hat brims and ribbed edges.
• Worked in the Round: The main body of the hat — the band, rise, and crown — is knitted in the round using either a 9-inch circular needle or double-pointed needles (dpns).
• Garter Stitch Band: The lower band is worked in garter stitch in the round, achieved by alternating purl rounds and knit rounds. This creates the characteristic ridged texture of garter stitch while working circularly.
• Earflaps and Front Brim: After the main hat is complete, stitches are picked up along the cast-on edge of the garter stitch band, and the earflaps and turn-back front brim are worked back and forth in rows from these picked-up stitches.
• Short Rows and Paired Decreases: The earflaps are shaped using a combination of short rows and paired decreases, two fundamental shaping techniques that give the earflaps their curved, fitted form.
• Crown Decreases: The top of the hat is shaped with decrease rounds worked from the mid-crown upward, tapering the hat to a neat finish.

Stitches Used

The Cypress Aviator Hat incorporates a small but well-chosen selection of stitches that give the hat its visual interest and structure:

• Garter Stitch (in the round): Used for the lower band, created by alternating knit and purl rounds when working circularly. Garter stitch produces a squishy, elastic fabric with horizontal ridges — ideal for a hat band that needs to stretch.
• Stockinette Stitch: The rise of the hat above the band is worked primarily in stockinette, producing a smooth, classic knitted fabric.
• Single Purl Stitches: Spaced at regular intervals across the stockinette rise (every 9 knit stitches followed by 1 purl stitch), these single purl stitches create subtle vertical texture lines that add visual detail and serve as decrease columns during crown shaping.
• Short Rows: Used in the earflap shaping to create curved, three-dimensional form without cutting the yarn.
• Paired Decreases: Used in both the earflap shaping and the crown shaping to reduce stitch counts symmetrically and neatly.