Great smile, Sebastian!
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby in white and in mint. Also a pastel purple remnant… possibly Red Heart baby sport… or whatever the one is that’s thin, a tiny bit scratchy, and made of 3 plies of acrylic with a shiny strand wrapped around those 3 plies. I used about 8.333 yards each of the green and the purple, and probably 22-25 yards of the white.
Needle: US size-2 circular
Pattern: 60 stitches, all knitting, in the round, using the Magic Loop technique. I did about 14-16 rounds in the white, then switched to the green until it was almost all gone (8 rounds), then went back to the white for 4 rounds, then did 8 rounds of the purple, then 4 rounds in the white again. Then I did the crown decreases over the 60 stitches like this:
Decrease round 1: *K4, k2tog* all the way around (thus leaving 50 stitches on the needle)
Next round: K all
Decrease round 2: *K3, k2tog* all the way around (thus leaving 40 stitches on the needle)
Next round: K all
Decrease round 3: *K2, k2tog* all the way around (thus leaving 30 stitches on the needle)
Next round: K all
Decrease round 4: *K1, k2tog* all the way around (thus leaving 20 stitches on the needle)
Next round: K all
Decrease round 5: *k2tog* all the way around (thus leaving 10 stitches on the needle)
Last round: K all
Cut yarn about 5 inches from the knitting, then pull that tail through all the live loops and pull it tight. (I use a small crochet hook.) You will have one piece of yarn and no more live loops. Tie or secure the tail end on the inside, weave in the tail for a couple of inches, then snip off the end.
After that, all I had to do was weave in all of the color-change ends and the original cast-on tail, and the hat was ready to wear.
(finished 9/15/11)
