Hat Gather Decrease

So you want less bulk at the top of the hat but moving stitches is hard. It also leaves strands along the backside of the hat and maybe you don't like those. I do a different kind of decrease for the tops of hats. It doesn't leave the strands, but I will say it doesn't decrease as much as some of the stranded methods, but is a nicer finish for the gathered top of the hat then the normal ones. Yes it is still a gather it just is a little less stitches to pull into that gathered portion.

Some of you may like it, some may not. Not everything works for everyone, at least some things that come out I like and some I don't. So I pick and choose what is best for me and my knitting and leave the rest for others who do like them. Hey, that's what makes this crafting thing so fun, we can pick and choose, we can decide what is best for us, and we can pass along all of it so others can do their own picking and choosing. Who knows, some of you may like this and that would make this post a good thing.

The following is how these other decreases work. They are done on one row, the last row, the removal row. The first method decreases by half the amount of stitches on the gather strand. The second method adds an additional decrease, so you are decreasing by two. This is easier for me to do then some of the other types of decreases as you are decreasing, knitting off the decrease and removing at the same time.

A decrease cast off for hats:

When the body of the hat is finished, cut the yarn leaving a long tail. Put the long tail in yarn needle. Starting with the stitch one peg over from where the
working yarn is and using your pick, move the stitch over one peg and knit off the bottom wrap. Insert needle from top to bottom of the stitch and lift off
the peg pulling yarn all the way though. Move stitch from the next peg over one peg and knit off bottom wrap. Again using needle and yarn remove the stitch from the peg. Continue around till all stitches have been decreased and removed from the
loom.

Second decrease cast off:

Put the long tail in yarn needle. Starting with the stitch one peg over from where the working yarn is and using your pick, move the stitch over one peg and knit
off the bottom wrap. Move this stitch over one more peg and knit off. Insert needle from top to bottom of the stitch and lift off the peg pulling yarn all the
way though. You can decrease by two stitches for each section, then use needle to remove the final stitch. This decreases the bulk of the hat at the top giving a
slightly more rounded effect.

Note: When I have been using a bulky yarn like boucle, I have found that moving the stitches on the strand for the final gather is quite difficult. Very often that strand can break.

To move this stitches DO NOT pull the yarn strand itself. Hold the strand and move the actual stitches across to meet the strand. You move the stitches closest to the base of the holding strand, then move the next in line, till all meet up. It is a bit more work but it is well worth putting in a little extra effort to prevent that possible breakage of your yarn. That messes up the whole thing.