Hat "Shark" in Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120 - 6735

Pattern Summary: Hat "Shark" (Mütze "Haifisch") – Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120, Design 6735

This free downloadable knitting pattern from Schachenmayr (design number 6735, copyright 2014 Coats PLC) guides knitters through creating a charming and playful shark-shaped hat, known in German as the Mütze "Haifisch". The finished hat is designed to fit two circumference sizes — approximately 38 cm and 42 cm — making it suitable for children or smaller adult heads. The standout feature of this hat is its sculptural shark tail fin worked at the crown, giving the finished piece a whimsical, three-dimensional character that makes it a popular novelty knit.

What Is Being Made

The project is a knitted hat with a decorative shark tail at the top. The body of the hat is worked in the round to a height of approximately 32 to 34 cm, depending on size, after which the crown shaping transitions into a forked tail fin that mimics the caudal fin of a shark. The result is a fully three-dimensional knitted accessory that is both functional as a warm hat and visually striking as a novelty item.

Materials Required

• Yarn: Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120, a DK weight (double knit) yarn made from fine merino wool, known for its softness, stitch definition, and comfortable wear next to the skin.
• Colour 00151 Royal (blue): 50 g for the 38 cm size, 75 g for the 42 cm size — used for the main body of the hat.
• Colour 00101 White: 25 g — used as a contrasting colour, likely for the belly or accent details.
• Colour 00150 Marine (dark navy): a small remaining amount, used for embroidery details (such as the shark's eyes or mouth).
• Needles: Double-pointed needles (DPNs) are required for knitting in the round, as the pattern references working across four needles simultaneously. The appropriate needle size would correspond to the DK weight of Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120.

Techniques Used

• Knitting in the round on double-pointed needles (DPNs), with stitches distributed evenly across four needles throughout the hat body.
• Crown decreases using a specific three-stitch decrease method: the last two stitches of needle 2 and the first stitch of needle 3 are worked together by slipping the two stitches from needle 2 onto needle 3 and then knitting three stitches together through the right needle. This decrease is repeated every second round — 31 times for the 38 cm size and 35 times for the 42 cm size — reducing the stitch count down to 20 stitches (5 per needle).
• Increases for the tail fin: After the crown shaping, stitches are increased by knitting both a regular knit stitch and a twisted knit stitch (knitting through the back loop) into every stitch, doubling the count to 40 stitches. A second increase round then works into every second stitch in the same manner, bringing the total to 60 stitches (15 per needle).
• Tail fin shaping: The two forked tips of the shark tail are formed by casting off specific stitches at the end of needle 4 and the beginning of needle 1 to create a central split, then working paired decreases — a left-leaning slip-slip-knit (SSK-style) decrease at the beginning of the round and a right-leaning knit-two-together (k2tog) decrease at the end — repeated three times every second round to taper each fin tip to a point.
• Embroidery: Finishing details such as the shark's facial features are added using the marine