This will take one ball of black double-knit cotton and some of the bright green I’m also using for Dad’s Skinny Tie, on 5mm needles.
My tension for this is:
14 stitches and 14 rows = 7 cm × 7 cm.
Cast on 84 stitches in black.
Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, for 8 rows in black. This will curl up and give a nice bottom edge to the hat.
Switch to green and knit 1 row, purl 1 row.
Back to the black and knit 1 row, purl 1 row, twice.
SO: it’s 2 rows green, 4 rows black, from now on.
Continue till the piece measures 13 cm, then things get ‘interesting’ because we’re going to start shaping the top of the hat which means decreasing stitches!
(Knit 18, knit 2 together) 4 times, knit 4 = now you should have 80 stitches.
Purl 4, purl 2 together, (purl 17, purl 2 together) 3 times, purl 17 = 76 stitches.
(I’ll use abbreviations now, because that’s what other patterns will always have, so K is knit, P is purl, K2tog = knit 2 together, P2tog = purl 2 together.)
(K16, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 72 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P15, P2tog) 3 times, P15 = 68 stitches.
(K14, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 64 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P13, P2tog) 3 times, P13 = 60 stitches.
(K12, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 56 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P11, P2tog) 3 times, P11 = 52 stitches.
(K10, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 48 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P9, P2tog) 3 times, P9 = 44 stitches.
(K8, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 40 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P7, P2tog) 3 times, P7 = 36 stitches.
(K6, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 32 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P5, P2tog) 3 times, P5 = 28 stitches.
(K4, K2tog) 4 times, K4 = 24 stitches.
P4, P2tog, (P3, P2tog) 3 times, P3 = 20 stitches.
Then cut the yarn and use a wool needle to thread it through these 20 stitches and fasten it off.
Sew up the sides = one stripy beanie hat!