Slouchy, twisted-rib beanie, with or without pom-pom!

The pattern was previously available here, but the blog has been removed.

clarabelle here! I’m now adding the pattern in these notes, though it seems I’m not supposed to! Better than leaving folks in the lurch though?

Twisted rib pattern: row 1: (knit the second st on the left needle knitwise, then the first one knitwise, then slide them off together, purl 2), repeat to marker.
Next 5 rows: knit 2x2 rib (knit 2, purl 2), repeat to end.

Dove pattern

Cast on 104 sts on the 4mm needle. This gives the best fit for my head (22”), so that it hugs well. I would suggest increasing/decreasing by 4 sts per each inch of head circumference to get the right fit. I used the cable cast-on method (I do think it gives a bit more stretch with ribbing, rather than a long-tail cast-on). Place marker and join in the round.

Knit in 2x2 rib for 2.5”. Change to the 4.5mm needle and commence the Twisted rib pattern. Continue until you’ve knitted 4 repeats of the pattern, ending on row 6. Change to the 5mm needle and continue with the Twisted rib pattern (commencing row 1) until you’ve knitted 9 repeats (or the required length), ending on row 6.

Next row: (k2tog, p2tog) repeat to marker (52 sts).
Next row: (k1, p1) repeat to marker.
Next row: (k2tog) repeat to marker (26 sts). You’ll need to switch to the double pointed needles now.
Next row: k one round.
Next row: (k3tog) repeat to the last 2 sts , k2tog (9 sts).

Cut yarn, leaving at least 12” as a tail. Using a darning needle, draw through the remaining sts a couple of times tightly and secure. Draw through the tail of yarn onto the right side of the knitting so that you can use it to attach the pom-pom. Then make a pom-pom: there are tons of tutorials on the web!