Description
G-cubed is a square top Hat worked from the bottom up in garter stitch. It's worked flat and uses invisible seaming methods at the side and at the crown.
Availability
My Patreon supporters and members of The Woolly Hat Society get exclusive early access to new free patterns and tutorials. Once the exclusive period is over it’s published here on the blog.
Support
If you have a question about this pattern, pop it in a comment below. Sorry, but I’m unable to help with my free patterns or tutorials via email or private messages.
Social Media
Share your hand-knit Hats online with these hashtags!
#WWGCubedHat
Yarn
100g/109yd/100m
Handdyed chunky yarn
Needles & Notions
Pair 5mm/UK6/US8 straight needles or size needed to obtain gauge
Stitch marker as necessary
Tapestry needle
Sample details
Shown in Devon Sun Yarns Hand Dyed Chunky [109yd/100m per 100g; 100% Superwash Merino]
Shown in size 22in/56cm on model with 21.25in/54cm circumference head
Gauge
14 sts x 28 rows to 4in/10cm on 5mm needles over Garter St.
Sizes
To fit sizes: 16 [18, 20, 22] in/ 40.75 [45.75, 50.75, 56] cm
Finished size: 14.25 [16, 17.75, 19.5] in/ 36.25 [40.75, 45, 49.5] cm
Not sure which size to make? Check my handy size and measuring guide!
Skills required
Garter stitch
Mattress Stitch for Garter Stitch
Support
If you have a question about this pattern, pop it in a comment below. Sorry, but I’m unable to help with my free patterns or tutorials via email or private messages.
Social Media
Share your Hats online with these hashtags!
#WWGCubedHat
Pattern notes
This pattern is deceptively simple – it’s simply a length of garter stitch worked flat! With careful attention to the cast-on and cast-off techniques (to ensure they match) and with clever use of garter stitch seaming techniques, this Hat can be made in any gauge, in any yarn. And it’s absolutely perfect for beginners.
How to
With main yarn and using Crochet Provisional cast-on method as a permanent cast-on, cast on 25 [28, 31, 34] sts. Try to leave a tail of around 7 [8, 9, 10] in/ 17.75 [20.25, 22.75, 25.5] cm
Body
Row 1: Knit all sts
Row 2: Knit all sts
These two rows create garter stitch. Repeat these two rows until work measures approximately 10.5 [12, 13.5, 15] in/ 26.75 [30.5, 34.25, 38] cm from the cast on edge, with the garter stitch relaxed.
Cast-off loosely using the regular cast-off method. Using a larger needle can help stop the cast-off becoming too tight. Leave a tail of around 7 [8, 9, 10] in/ 17.75 [20.25, 22.75, 25.5] cm
Finishing
Fold work in half length-ways.
Using the yarn tails, and using the mattress stitch method for garter stitch, close each side seam. You may wish to either duplicate stitch or use the ends of the yarn to otherwise tidy up the bottom edge at the seam points and keep the chain continuous.
If your yarn tails both end up on the same side, use a scrap of remaining yarn to close the seam.
Weave in all ends. A gentle wash and blocking is required to help the stitches settle.
Custom any gauge version
Should you wish to use a different yarn at a different gauge, you’ll need to know your head measurement and how many stitches across 4in/10cm your yarn gives you, which in turn will tell you how many stitches per inch or centimetre.
Armed with your head size, you’ll want to subtract 2in/5cm or 12% - this allows for negative ease (how much smaller the finished size compared to the to fit size) and it’s negative ease that helps keep the Hat on your head.
Now that you have the finished size of your Hat, divide that by 2 – this will tell us how wide the strip of garter stitch needs to be.
Then multiply this by the number of stitches per inch or centimetre – this tells us how many stitches to cast on. Round that number to the nearest whole stitch and grab your needles!
Example: your head size is 21in, and so an ideal finished size is 18in. That means our strip of garter stitch needs to be 9in wide.
Your yarn is a worsted weight yarn that gives 5sts per inch. We then multiply 9 (width in inches) by 5 (no. of sts per inch) to give us the cast-on number.
Simply knit the length of garter stitch until it’s double the Hat length and voila! Finish as above.
It's fair to say that I've too many projects on the go. All in various stages, they're sat there waiting for me to either get my brain in gear, or my body.
One such project is the Absolute Range. I can't remember whether I've talked about it here or not, I know I've mentioned it to quite a few people in person. Anyhows, the point of the project was to create an alternative line of Woolly Wormhead Hats, one that was aimed at absolute beginners.
I worked on quite a few Hats for this, and they sat there waiting for me to have the time to sit and write them in non-knitting pattern speak. What I wanted to do was to write a pattern without the usual knitting pattern code, something that someone who knows nothing about knitting could pick up and make a Hat from. And I wanted to design things a little more interesting than scarfs - get clever with a bit of folding kinda thing.
Now, writing a pattern that is suitable for non-knitters AND that would be suitable for teaching new knitters takes a whole other set of skills to writing a regular knitting pattern. If you ever fancy giving it a try, it's quite a useful exercise to undo your learning and think in terms of someone who knows nothing of which you speak. And it really does require a change in mindset.
I know exactly how I want to write these patterns and what I want to say, but I haven't had the headspace to give them.
The whole range would make good business sense, as the knitter that learns with you stays with you, but I've had to admit defeat on this one. Well, more that in my head I've moved on and I'm having loads more fun with more complex construction methods.
So... as most of these are already written in standard pattern writing for basic Hats, I figured I might as well make use of the work I've already done and offer them as free patterns.!
This last week I've knitted another new Hat; sent 4 new patterns to my test knitters and finished writing a handful of free patterns for the coming season. I've closed doors on some projects and frogged a bunch of patterns in progress and reskeined/washed the yarn.
It feels SO good to tidy up this way. I'm not very good at having loose ends, they eat away at my brain and I'd sooner have that brain space to focus on the projects that I'm looking forward to, not back. And all this tidying up is helping to keep me busy, pottering, while I wait for my shoulders to be ready to dive into the thing that I've been working on for what feels like too long. The maths is all done, I just need to be able to knit at a decent rate!
![](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53a18a35e4b0b4f1b3a90c41/t/5a7c83a8652dea44517d1461/1518109617408/TWHS-Circle7-v2.Grey.png?" "join the best free Hatterly newsletter on the web!")
