I've written about my oldest son's affinity for Lightning McQueen. He absolutely loves his McQueen hat, and wears it constantly, even when he doesn't really need to. However, my youngest son's head has been sadly nekkid in comparison. Sam doesn't share the same obsession with Cars that Joey has; Sam loves balls. Seriously loves them. He's 16 months old and one of the few articulate words to come out of his mouth so far has been "football". He says it with his little fists in the air and a giant dimpled grin on his face, then runs to get a ball to show me. Not being a sports person myself, I had to really dig deep for this one.
This is really just a plain old beanie hat with a ribbed brim, although the ribbing goes on for a bit longer than normal, and includes the typical white stripes of a football. But only on one side, because it looks better that way, and people are less tempted to kick my son's head, or run it into the end zone. The top of the hat has white laces, which are stitched separately once the hat is finished.
The hat is designed for a toddler, but this toddler has a giant head. He's always been 100th percentile in head circumference, and the hat is a bit snug so I'd say it will work for most babies up to 18 months. I used worsted yarn (4.5 st per one inch), and size 7 circular needles. If the child in question also has a large head (cuz how else can you house a big brain?), just use the same design but with size 8 needles instead of size 7 and it should be perfect.
Football Hat
co 72 sts. To avoid having to weave in your end, keep the tail fairly long and knit it right into the work. Join in the round, being careful not to twist.
Knit k1, p1 across for 6 or 7 rows. Switch to white yarn. Knit all stitches on the first white row, then k1, p1 for 2 additional rows (for a total of 3 white rows).
Switch back to brown and knit all stitches on the first brown row, then k1, p1 for 3 additional rows (for a total of 4 brown rows).
Repeat the 3 rows of white (knit all on row 1, then k1, p1 on rows 2 & 3), then back to brown, knitting all stitches of the first brown row before 3 final rows of k1, p1.
Tip: knitting all stitches on the first row of a color change results in a cleaner look, as you don't have the interlocking colors on the purl stitches. Neat, huh?
Work the rest of the hat in brown stockinette stitch. When ready to begin decreases, k10 then k2Tog until the end of the row. Next row knit all. Then k9 and k2Tog until the end of the row.
Continue a knit row between the steadily decreasing rows (8, 7, 6, 5 before the k2Tog) until you get to the row of knitting 5 stitches between each k2Tog. After that row stop the knit rows in between, and simply do the decreasing rows (4, 3, 2, 1). End after each stitch is a k2Tog. Pull the tail through the final stitches and weave into the underside of the hat.
The football laces are stitched separately into the top of the hat, using a yarn needle and the same white yarn as the stripes. To make sure it was even, start in the center and stitch a running stitch to one end, then back to the center in a running stitch to fill the gaps. Repeat on the other side, then put another row in there to make it bolder, before going back across for the cross laces.
I haven't been able to get a good picture of this hat. My son is slippery. Especially at this age, I can't get him to hold still for the camera. But his sweet head is no longer nekkid, so I'm happy about that. And just in time for Thanksgiving football.
By the way, since I started this post, he now says "touchdown". It's adorable.
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