Knitting basics and beanie time - K2tog, YO and the Slouched Tuva Hat

Once word got around that I had become somewhat of a knitting wizz, everyone wanted one of my famous beanies. But I'm picky with who I spent my precious time on, so the next recipient of my knitting skills wasn't to be just any odd person. And the next beanie wasn't to be just any odd beanie. The honour of having the Slouched Tuva Hat made for her went to my dear friend Swarles Barky.

What skills you will need

The pattern for the Slouched Tuva Hat is straight forward and easy to understand. Even beginner knitters like myself will be able to whip this one together without too much difficulty. Best of all, three out of four rounds are pure knit rounds, making it one easy pattern to remember.

Some skills new knitters may not yet be familiar with are the 'knit two together' and the 'yarn over' techniques. Both are essential in knitting and, once mastered, will quickly become part of your repertoire. My very own Lazy Lace Beanie is made up almost completely of a combination of the two!

So let's have a closer look at them:

Knit two together or K2tog

Knitting two together does exactly that. It's a technique that knits two stitches together, thus decreases your stitch count by one every time you do it. When used on its own in one row, it is a nice way to quickly decrease your stitches, as you would need to do when you finish up a beanie. When used in combination, for example in strategic locations in alternating rows, it is invaluable for shaping garments or even creating mock cables!

This easy to understanding video tutorial by the ever helpful Knit Witch shows you just how easy it is:

See? Nothing to worry about. Of course there are a number of different ways to make a decrease, but for the Slouched Tuva Hat, a simple K2tog is all you need.

Yarn over or YO

If you just kept going with your K2tog, you would end up with less and less stitches each round. So to make up for the decrease, you will need to make some more new stitches along the way. This is where the YO comes into play.

Making stitches can be a hassle, especially if you want them to be invisible. Fortunately, for the Slouched Tuva Hat invisible is the last thing you want. A yarn over (YO) is a super easy way to make a stitch. Just like the K2tog, the YO asks you to do exactly as it says: put your yarn over to the other side. So, if you are doing knit stitches, you bring your yarn from the back of the work to the front of the work. Likewise, if you are purling, you bring your yarn from the front of the work to the back. And that's a YO. Simply as that.

When you were learning to knit, you may have noticed that your work sometimes had a few holes in it. Guess what, you were probably doing a YO without even meaning to! The YO technique will leave a tiny hole behind, which is exactly why it is so popular for lace knitting. It's also a great way to include an easy button hole, if that tickles your fancy.

So let's have a look at the Knit Witch's instructions:



The biggest thing to remember is that the YO only requires you to move the yarn from front to back or vice versa. Once you have done so, you can move to the next set of instructions. So something like K2, YO, K2, would see you knit two stitches, move the yarn from the front of the work to the back, and then knit two stitches. So you moved four stitches from the left needle and are left with five stitches on the right needle, as the YO created one new stitch.

When I first started using patterns with a YO in it, I used to make the mistake of moving the yarn and following it with a knit stitch, as I believed this to be a YO. Consequently my knitting was always off, as I ended up working one too many stitches from the left needle, thus messing up the pattern. So don't over-think the YO. Move the yarn and move along.

And those are all the skills you need to make the Slouched Tuva Hat. Mine ended up being a fitted beanie, rather than the slouchy fit the pattern describes. I achieved this by doing less pattern repeats before beginning the decrease. Rather than repeat until the work measured 18 cm, I finished after approx. 15 cm and moved on to the decrease. The more often you repeat the pattern, the slouchier your beanie will be.

So head on over to Ravelry and try your hands on the Slouched Tuva Hat.

Enjoy.