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The Gratitude Hat by Josée Paquin is a ribbed watchcap-style hat with a bit of a twist. The rounded shape is formed by a strip of decreases that are an interesting detail to an otherwise plain hat. I found the hat both fun and interesting to knit! It also suits anybody with a head!
A ribbed beanie or watchcap style hat is a hat with a storied past, most recently settling on it’s current shape and name during World War II (read up on some of the history here). These days watchcaps seem to be ribbed knit hats with a rolled up brim; I commonly see them quite short and they don’t cover the ears. I find this quite silly because we live in Canada! And winter is cold! In my opinion, longer hats that fold up while also covering the ears are more practical, while still being stylish.
This is a knit version, but I’ve also crocheted watchcaps before. Take a look at my Perfect Hat by Tanja Osswald, which uses a slip-stitch technique to get a similar-look.
I knit the Gratitude Hat using just over one skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Bluefaced Leicester DK Solids wool yarn. Sadly, West Yorkshire Spinners discontinued this yarn. The original pattern uses a fingering weight and a mohair lace weight held together. This results in a Sport or DK weight yarn. I just used a plain DK weight yarn since I have several single or double skeins in my stash.
I used 3.25 mm needles to knit the hat. The pattern includes three sizes, and I knit the size Medium. I wanted to knit a ribbed hat, and this hat has just enough style to give it a bit of pizzazz. What makes this hat fun to knit is that you actually knit it inside out. Once you cast off, you weave in the ends and flip it out to reveal that tidy strip of knit stitches.
You knit the Gratitude Hat from the bottom up, in the round and seamlessly. The instructions have you knit the crown shaping using the Magic Loop, but you could also knit it using DPNs. I hadn’t used Magic Loop before, and I don’t understand the hate it gets! It’s not particularly fiddly, but I also do not think it’s the best thing ever. I find it’s just another technique to knit small circumference designs. Perhaps people dislike using this method if their needles give them trouble. I mostly use Chaio Goo needles, which have a pliable cord and smooth join, and I found Magic Loop easy to use.
Get the pattern on Ravelry here.
