Beanie time - Terzetto pattern beanie

Alongside the arm warmers I had already made for my sister, I had also promised my husband that he, too, would get something awesome from me.


The choice was his, and he finally decided that he wanted to have a beanie to keep him warm this winter. Mind you, it needed to be sufficiently manly looking, so none of this frilly frilly knitting stuff please.

I found a suitable beanie in the Terzetto pattern beanie designed by Lisa Gutierrez, which was even modelled by a man, so my husband was happy to give the go ahead nod of approval. My journey of learning to knit in the round could begin.

First attempt at knitting in the round

To make sure I could get the feel for it, I decided to whip up a quick headband for myself, just to be sure I get this whole 'Don't twist the work when joining in the round' thing. I used a simple basket weave stitch, to practice stitch patterns at the same time and it turned out looking rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

Basket weave stitch:

Cast on multiples of 8

Rows 1-5: [K4, P4] repeat [] to end of row
Rows 6-10: [P4, K4] repeat [] to end of row

You can adjust the number of rows, depending on what you need. Just be sure to keep them even.

Things to look out for

The headband was surprisingly easy and quick to make, which made me feel confident about knitting in the round. One thing I did not account for is the amount of stretch you get from your knitting. When I tried to figure out how many stitches to cast on, I simply measured my head and converted that exact size into the appropriate number of stitches to cast on, using the gauge the wool provided. This resulted in my headband being far too loose. So, if you happen to be making up your own patterns, do keep in mind that it's not a one to one conversion. Instead, make the work tighter than what you need it to be, to allow for the extra give.

Let's get started

With the first semi-successful knitting in the round project under my belt, I was now ready for something even more epic. I had already bought some lovely soft wool called Cleckheaton Country Naturals, which has little flecks of awesome throughout it, to give the work some nice texture. I also had a number of different circular knitting needles, which I was sure would be sufficient for my project.

Joining in the round

Turns out that assumption was my first annoying mistake. The pattern clearly calls for 4 mm and 5 mm 40 cm circular needles. I had the appropriate length in the 5 mm, but not in the 4 mm. 'Psh', I thought, 'why waste money. 4 mm 60 cm circulars will do just fine.' Well, they don't. Because you use the 4 mm needles to make the brim of the beanie, you are already struggling with very tight working conditions. I found that when first joining the rounds, you really need to pull those stitches, because everything is just so freaking tight! That quickly eases as you progress up and the work starts to give a bit better. But geez, those first few rounds sure are a pain.

In theory, when you join your work in the round, there is only one thing you need to look out for: don't twist your work. When I first read those warnings, I used to think it would be quite difficult to avoid it. It sounded like the work would sneakily try to twist while you weren't looking, like some kind of evil, twisty knitting demon. It's not like that at all and it's actually quite easy to avoid twisting.

See how in the photo above the work itself is on the inside, while the new stitches are on the outside? That's how it needs to be the whole time. When you first cast on, it's exactly the same. Just make sure that the edge is pointing inwards, while the new stitches are pointing outwards.Easy peasy.

Magic loop method

But back to my incorrect knitting needle length issue. I had already cast on, so I sure wasn't going to wait until the next morning when the stores opened again. Where there is a will, there is a way, so I did some googling and found something called the magic loop method. It all sounded a bit coocoo to me initially, I mean come on, 'magic loop'?! But it turns out to be a surprisingly easy concept and my nanna quickly assured me in subsequent discussions that she's been doing this method for years and years, but she never knew it had an actual name. So there, nanna approves of it, so it can't be that coocoo.

Basically, instead of using very short circular needles or even double pointed needles (DPNs), the magic loop method encourages you to use a very long circular needle, with a nice flexible cable. The stitches are then divided in half and pushed up onto the front of the two needles, with the cable hanging out between them. It's quite difficult to explain, so have a look at the below video by theknitwitch, if you want to find out more. Or, you know, just buy the right length needles from the beginning.

I did use the magic loop method quite successfully, as in it allowed me to progress with my project, however the stitches did get tighter and tighter, and I gave up on working the brim after only five rounds, instead of the recommended seven. I didn't think you would be able to tell the difference at the time, but you can. Seven rounds of brim beats five any day.

I only had 60 cm needles, which I think are a tad bit too short to use this method comfortably. I haven't tried it since, but  have bought some nice, flexible 200 cm circular needles in both 4 mm and 5 mm, just in case I want to try my luck again in the future.

Changing needles in the middle of a project

Once the brim was finished, the pattern asked me to swap from the 4 mm needles to the 5 mm needles. 'Sure thing, I can do that, no worries. Uhm... how?' I had those thoughts for a while, but a quick search on the internet lay those worries to rest. Once again, this sounds much for complicated than it really is. Are you ready to learn how to change needles in the middle of a project? Are you sure? Here it comes:

Just start using the new needles. For realz. It's as simple as that. Keep on doing what you were doing, but instead of moving your knitting onto the right needle of your current size, use your next size and let the other ones dangle. No need to make it any more complicated than that, I promise.

Once I swapped to the 5 mm 40 cm needles for the pattern, it was easy sailing and the beanie came together in no time.

Final result

The Terzetto pattern is so easy, it's the perfect beginner beanie. You will have the pattern memorised like that and won't even need to do much stitch or row counting. It's also a really good way to learn what the different stitches look like and you will soon be able to pick up your work after a break and see exactly where you left off.

And here it is, my first beanie:

I did make some slight modifications to the original pattern. I cast on 96 stitches, because my husband is very smart and thus has a slightly bigger head than most people. I also added an extra pattern repeat. The goal of this was to make it slouchier, but it ended up being the perfect fit, which is lucky. My husband did want a slouchy beanie, though, so if I were to make this again, I would probably do at least five, if not six repeats of the triangle pattern. But all in all, this is a gorgeous beanie and a perfect beginner knitter project.

Go check it out and knit away: Terzetto pattern beanie designed by Lisa Gutierrez

Enjoy.