Loom Knit Elf Hat
Decrease for cone with no seams
Hello my fellow loom knitters! It's been awhile since my last blog. I've had many requests in the past & recently on how to make an Elf Hat for babies or newborns. Below is a written description of what I do to get that gradual cone shape & also a video on the decrease principle I use. We will use this technique over an over a few times to get that look. Please try this once with scrap yarn on the looms suggested to get the technique down first. Then try adjusting it from different loom sizes on your own. Please appreciate I cannot transpose to every loom for everyone but if you use the basic strategy it will work for you. Feel free to add rows or change it up to for your pattern. I'd love to hear back from you or in a video response on YouTube. Have fun!!Let's say you are making a newborn Elf Hat on the 24 peg KK loom. I make my hat a few rows shy of the crown length I want to fit it to & then start my decrease. (Divide all pegs into 4 sections of six. Use my video but instead of knitting over 1 row after moving over the pegs, add 1 more row.) By the time you are done and have 12 pegs left on the loom, you will have 3 extra rows created to make it longer plus the 3 rows of decrease. [see video for decreasing by *Principle of Six - SEE BELOW POST]
Now thread a contrasting yarn through all the loops and transfer over to the 12 peg KK Bloom loom (or 12 pegs of a long loom with a loom clip). At this time go ahead and pull on the extra slack in the yarn so that your ladders between the stitches get smaller and so do the transferred loops. (Divide into 2 sections of six and decrease exactly as you did before adding an extra row. After this you should have 6 pegs with stitches on the loom and have added 3 extra rows to the length plus the 3 rows decreased.
Next transfer again, with contrasting yarn, to a long loom with a loom clip at the end. You will use the loom clip as 1 peg and 2 pegs on each side plus one end of the loom. Pull up the slack. Now you have the *"standard 6 pegs" to decrease again as before. Add 1 row extra between each decrease row as on the two looms before. You will have 3 pegs left.
Move the three pegs close to each other and pull up the slack. Knit two stitches together and continue as an i-cord until you have reached the length desired. Knit the last two together and knit last stitch. Cut a tail and pull through. Add a pom-pom and weave in any ends. Basically it's the same decrease over and over again with adding in extra rows along the way for a gradual decrease and cone appearance. (The hat in the picture above I did not continue with an i-cord to show what it would look like to leave short).
*PRINCIPLE OF SIX - My decreasing method divide the loom into sections of 6 pegs. The first round of decrease move all the 2nd pegs to the 1st peg. Wrap all remaining stitches left and knit off (KO). Next move all the 4th pegs over to the 3rd peg. Wrap all remaining and KO. Last, move all the 6th pegs to the 5th and KO. If a hat this finished the decreased crown, just cast off at this point or continue with transfer if for a longer crown. (On some looms the last section may be 5 or 7 pegs in the section. In this case just wrap and KO. If 8 then add one more row to move the 8th peg to the 7th, now wrap all left and KO.
*PRINCIPLE OF SIX - My decreasing method divide the loom into sections of 6 pegs. The first round of decrease move all the 2nd pegs to the 1st peg. Wrap all remaining stitches left and knit off (KO). Next move all the 4th pegs over to the 3rd peg. Wrap all remaining and KO. Last, move all the 6th pegs to the 5th and KO. If a hat this finished the decreased crown, just cast off at this point or continue with transfer if for a longer crown. (On some looms the last section may be 5 or 7 pegs in the section. In this case just wrap and KO. If 8 then add one more row to move the 8th peg to the 7th, now wrap all left and KO.
I hope this has helped you. Happy Looming!!
Kristen
©2012 GoodKnit Kisses
