Quarters Cap

Four quarters in a football game.  60 clock minutes, but the game can last for hours.  When your team is winning, it seems to go by in a flash.  When your team is losing, it feels like agony.  As I was looking for a knit or crochet pattern to be the final one in our Sunday with a Side of Football series, I found the Quarters Cap by Kristin Nicholas Designs.  This hat can be done in a variety of sizes, can have a striped effect, or in solid color…you guessed it…quarters!  What could be more perfect for football knitting?

The hat is worked garter stitch and flat.  In other words, not in the round.  Much like a football game, you kick off (cast on) and knit all the way to the end zone.  After your second row, you begin a series of plays (short rows), with each sequential short row creating the shaping of the crown.  Once you're at the 50 yard line (or worked half of the stitches in your row shaping the crown), you start a new quarter.  Upon completion of four quarters, your game (cap) is finished!  

I cannot tell you what yarns I used to make this hat, other than they are of equal worsted weights, and are likely acrylic blends. I wanted to use four color combinations in an effort to stash-bust leftover yarns.  But my office currently looks like someone from Hoarders invaded it.  We are trying to catch up from having a few weeks off for the holidays, launch our Soothe for Spring campaign, and get ready for Stitches West.  So I found two leftovers in time for this past weekend's divisional playoff series.  I used a size 8 needle and selected the Teen/Woman Average size in the pattern.  My hat came out a little larger than the finished size published for the pattern (remember, I don't swatch hats?).   I haven't used straights in a very long time, so my knitting was fairly loose.  

This is a great pattern for someone familiar with basic knitting (all garter) and looking for an introduction to short-rows.  Kristin's instructions are very clear and easy to follow.  The possibilities of yarn combinations are endless.  If you're stash-busting to make a hat, I can easily see this one making a dent in the leftovers, whether you choose four colors for each quarter, or decide to stripe every other row.  It would be fun to imagine what this might look like with every other row striping in a myriad of colors.  Hmm…maybe to try that for the next one? I could also see this finished with a crocheted edge, and in Kristin's blog, she shows it with a funky, fun flower.  As a cap for someone going through chemotherapy?  While not for everyone, if done in soft yarns and one of the middle sizes to gauge, it would make a great teen or young adult cap for the winter months or one of our kids' camp campaigns.

The four quarters of yesterday's playoff game were agony, as I watched my beloved Packers lose, thanks to turnovers and mishandled plays. While football season has two more weekends of play for the AFC/NFC Championship and the Super Bowl, our quest to find hats that can be made easily while watching the games have come to an end.  Or have they?  We may just have one more hat lurking off the shores of the Super Bowl for you football fin-a-tics like me.

 

Admin note:  All of Pam's hat projects can also be found on Ravelry, under her Ravatar, HaloPrez.