Knitting Pattern: Stegosaurus Hat
This hat is great for everyone, from tots to adults (especially if you know someone going through their dinosaur phase). The body of this hat is made to fit an average adult’s head, around 20 inches in circumference, although it stretches. You can easily take the pattern for the Stegosaurus spikes and make them for a baby or child’s hat.
The hat pattern is my own personal go-to, basic pattern for a hat that I created myself. It isn’t the basic pattern that makes the hat special, it’s how you adorn it, and which stitches you use. In this instance, we’ll just be using a plain knit stitch for the body of the hat (with your own custom rib for the stretchy band at the edge of the hat). But if you so chose to, you could knit the hat with a round of purls every so often, creating a ridged effect. Or you could go online and find a stitch library and choose from many intricate and interesting patterns, easily applied to any of your knitting projects. You can find many stitch encyclopedias at your local library or online, so shop around for a good stitch, and try everything out. You may find that your favorite stitch pattern is something intensely intricate, or a simple run-of-the-mill pattern.
The Hat Part
You don’t need a hat in particular, you can add spikes to a scarf or a toy, or even mittens. But my personal favorite accessories are hats, and I love adding things like spikes, ears, and tails to them, so for this particular pattern the accessory of choice will be a hat. For an in-depth guide of instructions on how to tailor your hat to fit your head perfectly, see my article on the Anatomy of Hats .
Materials:
A good 250-plus yards of worsted weight yarn
A set of five double-pointed US #8 knitting needles
Large-eye yarn needle, scissors
Cast on 81 stitches (20 stitches on each needle 1, 2, and 3; 21 on needle 4). Transfer the last stitch off needle 4 to needle 1, and knit two together (the first stitch off needle 1 and the stitch you transferred from needle 4). Knit one round.
Next round, switch to a ribbing of your choice (knit one, purl one; knit two, purl two; knit one, purl three; knit three, purl one; etc.). Continue this for at least ten rounds, or for a good three inches. If you knit only ten rounds with the ribbing, continue to knit 25 rounds in plain knit stitch. If you did three inches, knit 20 rounds.
Now it’s time for the decreasing.
Rnd 1 (of the decreasing): k2tog, k8, k2tog, k8. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 2: knit all stitches.
Rnd 3: k2tog, k7, k2tog, k7. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 4: knit all stitches.
Rnd 5: k2tog, k6, k2tog, k6. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 6: knit all stitches.
Rnd 7: k2tog, k5, k2tog, k5. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 8: knit all stitches.
Rnd 9: k2tog, k4, k2tog, k4. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 10: knit all stitches.
Rnd 11: k2tog, k3, k2tog, k3. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 12: knit all stitches.
Rnd 13: k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 14: knit all stitches.
Rnd 15: k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 16: knit all stitches.
Rnd 17: k2tog twice. Repeat three more times.
Rnd 18: knit all stitches.
Rnd 19: bind off all stitches.
Cut yarn (for a reasonable sized tail) and turn hat inside out and use tail to sew up the opening. (Weave in all tails.)
The All-Purpose Triangular Spike
The spikes for this particular hat are knit on size US #8 straight needles, so they’re small. But you can easily switch to bigger needles for larger spikes, or smaller ones for small spikes. The pattern is for an all-purpose triangle, for which you knit two and sew them together to make the spike.
Materials:
Worsted weight yarn (you won’t need much for these spikes, but it’s easier if you just use it from a new skein, so there’s no danger of running out and being short a spike)
Size US #8 straight knitting needles
Large-eye yarn needle, scissors
Cast on 10 stitches.
Row 1: k all sts.
Row 2: p all sts.
Row 3: k all sts.
Row 4: p all sts.
Row 5: k all sts.
Row 6: p all sts.
Row 7: k2tog, k6, ssk.
Row 8: p8.
Row 9: k2tog, k4, ssk.
Row 10: p6.
Row 11: k2tog, k2, ssk.
Row 12: p4.
Row 13: k2otg, ssk.
Row 14: p2tog.
Cut yarn and pull through last stitch. Make 10 triangles in all for the Stegosaurus Hat. For transforming them into spikes from triangles, have two triangles (the last stitch that you bound off should be pointing upwards and the smooth side of the Stockinette facing inwards towards the other triangle): use the tails from the cast on and bind off edges to sew up the sides of the triangles together – a simple overstitch, or whipstitch, works for this. Leave the bottom open (you’ll need to stuff it later). Pull the spike right side out, so the smooth Stockinette is out, and put all the tails (except one on the bottom at the opening) into the spike. Do this for every triangle so that you have five complete spikes.
Take a little bit of toy stuffing and stuff all five spikes so they don’t fold in on themselves if you wash the hat.
Now you have a hat and five spikes. The next part will be easier if you have some sort of mannequin head (or one of those cheap Styrofoam heads you can find at dollar stores occasionally), or something round that you can fit the hat on. Now find the center of the hat (it will be where you sewed up the top of the hat, probably) and place one spike on it. Spread out the bottom edges of the spike so it’s taut and pin it down. Use the tail you left out of the spike and sew the edges of the spike down to the hat (with overstitch/whipstitch). Now do the same on either side of the first spike with the other four spikes. You want to have a Mohawk of spikes on the hat. Weave in all tails. You now officially have a Stegosaurus hat! Feels good, doesn’t it?
Now you can take your skills at making spikes (and anything triangular) and apply it to anything and everything.
Pattern recap
Hat
CO 81 sts. Transfer 81st st to needle 1 and k2tog. K 1 rnd.
K 10 rnds in k1, p1 rib. Switch to St st (k all sts in the rnd) for 20-25 rnds.
Decreasing:
Rnd 1 (of dec): k2tog, k8, k2tog, k8. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 2: k.
Rnd 3: k2tog, k7, k2tog, k7. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 4: k.
Rnd 5: k2tog, k6, k2tog, k6. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 6:k.
Rnd 7: k2tog, k5, k2tog, k5. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 8: k.
Rnd 9: k2tog, k4, k2tog, k4. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 10: k.
Rnd 11: k2tog, k3, k2tog, k3. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 12: k.
Rnd 13: k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 14: k.
Rnd 15: k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 16: k.
Rnd 17: k2tog twice. Rep 3 more times.
Rnd 18: k.
Rnd 19: BO all sts.
Weave in tails.
Triangles for Stegosaurus spikes
CO 10 sts.
Row 1: k all sts.
Row 2: p all sts.
Row 3: k all sts.
Row 4: p all sts.
Row 5: k all sts.
Row 6: p all sts.
Row 7: k2tog, k6, ssk.
Row 8: p8.
Row 9: k2tog, k4, ssk.
Row 10: p6.
Row 11: k2tog, k2, ssk.
Row 12: p4.
Row 13: k2otg, ssk.
Row 14: p2tog.
Vocabulary
K = knit
P = purl
K2tog = knit two together
P2tog = purl two together
SSk = slip slip knit
St st = Stockinette stitch
St(s) = stitch(es)
Rnd(s) = round(s)
Dec = decrease(/ing)
CO = cast on
BO = bind off
