What you need
One skein Caron Simply Soft in white or background color of your choice
A few yards black yarn or color of your choice for embellishments
Set of 4 size 8 US (5 mm) knitting needles; you can also use a 16-inch circular needle for the body of the hat, if you’d rather
Yarn needle
Instructions
Almost all of the colorwork is done in duplicate stitch on top of a really basic hat pattern, so this is actually a relatively quick project.
Gauge
20 stitches and 25 rounds per 4 inches/10 cm (5 stitches and 6.25 rounds per inch) in stockinette stitch in the round.
Size
Finished hat is about 19 inches (48 cm) around and 9 inches (22 cm) tall, to fit an adult (it will be a little slouchy on a woman).
Click on the image above for a full size chart
Knitting the hat
Cast on 96 stitches. Divide onto 3 needles, if using DPNs, and join in the round.
Work in knit 2, purl 2 ribbing for 1.5 inches (3.8 cm).
Knit straight until piece measures 6.5 inches (16.5 cm).
Change to contrast color and knit 3 rounds.
Change back to main color and knit 1 round.
*K6, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
*K5, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
*K4, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
*K3, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
*K2, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
*K1, k2tog. Repeat from * around.
Knit.
K2tog around for 2 rounds. 6 stitches remain.
Cut yarn, put on a yarn needle, slip the stitches onto the yarn and pull tight.
Embellishing the hat
Using the chart provided, stitch the facial features on the hat using duplicate stitch in your contrast color yarn.
The way I stitched it, there are two rounds of white below the band of black before I started stitching the eyes. The mouthpiece starts on the fifth round of the ribbing.
Of course you can work different parts of the face in different colors for extra ferociousness if you like.
What do you think of this project? Let us know!