Hat with Melon Appliqués in Schachenmayr Catania - S8918 - Downloadable PDF

Hat with Melon Appliqués in Schachenmayr Catania

What Is Being Made

This is a knitted hat designed for a head circumference of approximately 43-48 cm, with a finished hat circumference of 49 cm and total length of 23 cm. The hat features a colorful striped pattern and is embellished with melon appliqués, creating a playful and decorative finished piece.

Knitting Techniques Used

This project employs several fundamental and intermediate knitting techniques. The hat begins with a ribbed cuff worked in the round on circular needles, providing stretch and a finished edge. The main body is worked in stockinette stitch (glatt rechts), which creates a smooth, classic knit fabric. The pattern incorporates stranded colorwork with a repeating 16-round color sequence, requiring the knitter to work with multiple colors in the same round. Increases are worked early in the pattern using lifted stitches from the horizontal strand between stitches (crossed right stitches from the yarn over). The hat is shaped at the crown using decreases, transitioning from circular needles to double-pointed needles (das Nadelspiel) as the stitch count reduces, a standard technique for closing the top of a hat.

Stitches Used

• Ribbed stitch (Bündchenmuster) for the cuff
• Stockinette stitch (glatt rechts) for the main body and colorwork sections
• Lifted increases (crossed right stitches from the yarn over) for shaping
• Centered double decreases (3 stitches with center stitch over the outer stitches) for crown shaping

Materials and Construction Details

This pattern is worked in Schachenmayr Catania, a sport-weight yarn that provides excellent stitch definition and is ideal for colorwork projects. The hat is constructed using 2.5 mm circular needles for the ribbed cuff and initial rounds, then transitions to 3 mm circular needles for the main body and colorwork sections. Double-pointed needles of the same size are used for the final crown decreases. The color sequence repeats every 16 rounds and includes the colors: pfau (peacock blue), cyclam (cyclamen pink), weiss (white), and maigrün (spring green), creating a vibrant striped effect throughout the hat.

Pattern Structure

The hat is worked seamlessly in the round from the bottom up. After the ribbed cuff measures approximately 3 cm, a single increase round in maigrün adds 16 stitches to reach 128 stitches. The main stockinette body is then worked in the repeating 16-round color pattern for approximately 17.5 cm before crown shaping begins. The crown is decreased using centered double decreases worked at regular intervals until all stitches are closed off, creating the characteristic pointed top of a knitted hat.