Hubby wanted a Sad Mac icon beanie, so I printed out knitting graph paper and then a sad mac icon, which I found online, in various sizes until I could trace an icon on the graph paper that was about 30 rows tall, because I knew I’d be limited by how tall this beanie will be. Then I plotted it in Excel and adjusted the cell heights and widths to match my stitch aspect ratio, and adjusted the icon so it wouldn’t look stretched out.

With a US 7 circular needle (24”), my gauge with this yarn was 4.5 stitches and 6.5 rows per inch in stockinette stitch.

Hubby’s head is 23.5 inch circumference, so CO 100 stitches for 1 inch negative ease. I worked k2p2 ribbing in the round for 1.25 inches, then switched to stockinette stitch for 32 rows.

Split stitches into 4 sections. For each section: k1, k2tog, knit until 3 stitches before marker, k2tog, k1. Repeated every round until 5 stitches left in each section, then for each section: k1, slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped stitch over, k1 (12 stitches left). Next row, in each section: slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped stitch over (4 stitches left). Cut yarn, threaded yarn through remaining 4 stitches and pulled tight, wove in ends.

Duplicate stitch for the Sad Mac icon. I ended up pulling the stitches out and starting over when I realized I needed to center the icon between the two decrease “ridges” at the top of the hat.