Lightning McQueen boy's hat

My 3-year old is obsessed with Lightning McQueen from Cars (Disney, 2006 [just a little CYA in case any representatives of the Disney company happen upon this]).  His Lightning McQueen car usually accompanies him wherever he goes, including bed.  He regularly subjects me to Lightning-centric movies, short films, story books, coloring books, discussions, and play time.  It gets annoying, but I’m glad he enjoys it.

With the colder weather slowly approaching, I realized all the hats and beanies my son owns are for babies, and no longer appropriate for a little man such as himself.  I asked him if he wanted me to make him a hat, and he requested a hat that looks like Lightning.  I dithered for a while over exactly how a hat would look like Lightning.  I've seen some knit hats with eyes or wheels, or other disturbing approximations of the anthropomorphic car.  But then I settled on more of an implied Lightning, rather than trying to duplicate him and ending up with something weird.

This hat attempts to resemble the Doppler effect, with the two colors blending together so that as one gets smaller the other one gets larger.  However, I am no physicist, I am actually quite dumb, so I’m sure the Doppler effect doesn’t really look like that.  I was trying to go for something that looked cool and conveyed speed.

The decreases happen quickly.  For this hat I didn’t put any knit rows between the decreasing rows, so it ends at nearly a 90-degree angle.  The final red stripes almost look like squares, with the decreased angles coming together like an X.  There was no special reason for that, aside from the fact that I thought it would look neat.

I should also note that this hat is pretty loose on my son's giant, Norwegian cranium.  I even put it on myself and it fit, but it was a little tight on me.  So this hat will probably fit him for many years to come, and could easily be made for a larger kid.

I used Cascade 220 worsted wool (4.5 st per 1-inch) and size 8 circular needles.  The colors on this hat are black, red, and dark orange to mimic Lightning McQueen, but this hat could be done using any combination of colors.

Doppler Effect/Lightning McQueen hat

co 72 sts in black, join in the round, being careful not to twist the work.

k2, p2 for 2 rows.

Switch to red, then k2, p2 for an additional 6 rows.

Continue in stockinette (knit all stitches) for 12 rows, then begin the color variation pattern.

(Note: if your little one is not as big a fan of red as my son is, you could begin the color variation sooner to get a hat with more orange on it.  Just be sure to compensate by starting the decreasing later; ie., if you start the orange stripes 6 rows sooner, then begin decreasing 6 rows later than described below)

Row 13: Orange for 1 row, knit all stitches

Row 14-16: Red for 3 rows, knit all stitches

Row 17: Orange for 1 row, knit all stitches

Row 18-20: Red for 3 rows, knit all stitches

Row 21-22: Orange for 2 rows, knit all stitches

Row 23-25: Red for 3 rows, knit all stitches

Row 26-28: Orange for 3 rows, knit all stitches

Row 29-30: Red for 2 rows, knit all stitches

Row 30-32: Orange for 3 rows, knit all stitches

Row 33: Red for 1 row.  Begin decreasing on this row: k14, ssk, k2tog*

Orange for the next 3 rows, pattern as follows:

Row 34: k12, ssk, k2tog*

Row 35: k10, ssk, k2tog*

Row 36: k8, ssk, k2tog*

Row 37: Red for 1 row: k6, ssk, k2tog*

Orange for all remaining rows:

Row 38: k4, ssk, k2tog*

Row 39: k2, ssk, k2tog*

Row 40: k2tog*

Weave the yarn through the last stitches and tie off.  Weave in ends.

If you are making this a Lightning McQueen hat, the bolt is a separate piece of fabric that is sewed directly to the hat. I cut the bolt out of an old yellow t-shirt that he grew out of; the jersey material is springy enough to move with the knitted hat and not get warped or torn.  I drew my own template and traced the shape onto the material, then cut it out and sewed it on.  Since it’s t-shirt material, I didn’t worry about hemming it.

The kid loves this hat.  He refused to take it off all day yesterday, although the weather was unseasonably warm for mid-October.

Please note this pattern was made by me.  You are free to make a hat out of it and give it as a gift, but please do not make money off it.  Thanks!