The October Hat by Sloane Rosenthal is free pattern. It is worked in the round from the bottom up using aran weight yarn. I had been working on a Honeycomb Aran sweater with all over cables, and thought I would also enjoy a smaller cable project.
YARN
I ordered my Merino Aran yarn from La Bien Aimee in the color: Tangiopeia. It’s a bouncy, squishy yarn and the color is super pretty. Overall it’s mostly shades of orange with pops of grey, lavender, and pink. This color is speckled and variegated which I thought would be a fun color for a beanie even if it made the cables less apparent.
CASTING ON
This hat uses a provisional cast on which I was familiar with from knitting my Penguono. I used a crochet hook and my US size 5 circular needles to provisionally cast on with waste yarn.
With my Penguono, the provisional cast on is removed to later reveal live stitches. I wasn’t sure how this would work with this October Hat, but trusted the pattern and kept knitting.
BRIM
The brim of the October hat is a K2, P2 ribbing for 5″. I liked this section because it made it easy to grab this project if I was heading out of the house and just wanted to knit a few rows.
It took me a while to knit the five inches of ribbing since I wasn’t working on this project very often.
BODY
I changed to my US 7 size needles for the body and started the cable pattern. The Cable Chart in the back defines the cables as C2/2L and C2/2R, and the Abbreviations in the front define how to knit those cables. Like I mentioned, I had been working on the Honeycomb Aran and was familiar with those cables. I noticed that the cables in the October Hat are the same as the some of the ones in the Honeycomb Aran, just labeled differently.
The C2/2L in the October Hat is the same as the C4F in the Honeycomb Aran, and C2/2R is the same as C4B. I didn’t know there were multiple names/titles for the same cables. It made it really easy for me to work the cables in the October Hat since I was already familiar with them.
The cable pattern is charted and very easy to read. I highlighted the different cables and labeled them as I am know them. I love working patterns from my iPad because I can easily highlight my place, or make little helpful edits.
This pattern repeats 3 times across the 120 sts, so I placed a stitch marker between each repeat in the round. You work the complete chart once and then a smaller portion of the chart three times.
CROWN + FINISHING
The decreases for the crown were super simple and fun. I had to move down in cable sizes as I worked each round, eventually getting down to my shorties needles with a 5″ cord; all my interchangeable needles work together to make whatever combinations I need. I cut a long tail and used a tapestry needle to pull the remaining stitches closed.
Then, the pattern says to remove waste yarn. The only waste yarn I had was from my provisional cast on, and I was nervous to reveal the live stitches. There are no additional knitting instructions so I wasn’t sure how to handle that. But there were no live stitches! I guess when I knit the k2tog after joining in the round, it closed the live stitches. The pattern does reference a tubular cast on later, but I didn’t realize it was part of the provisional cast on.
POM POM
I’d never made a pom pom before, but the pattern uses one and said to create one with a 3″ diameter. You can get a pom pom maker to help you create a perfect pom, but I watched this video to learn how to make mine:
I love my little pom, but I think it’s uneven. I didn’t want to mess up and cut too much so I am leaving it as is. It was a little sad to use so much yarn and just cut it; I’m usually trying to avoid cutting my yarn!
I watched this video to help me attach the pom pom, and I love how my beanie turned out.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Even though I didn’t work on it very consistently, this was a fun knit. I think this would be a great project for someone just getting into cables or wanting a fast, but stylish beanie. I love the Tangiopeia colorway; it makes this such a fun hat to pop on.
The pattern is written well and is free. I think this would be a great pattern to knit gifts for friends and family.
October Hat Rating
Layout = ★★★★★
Organization = ★★★★★
Clarity = ★★★★★
Value = ★★★★★
Final Product = ★★★★★
Check out my Ravelry page for a look at my other completed projects.
