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| Lodge Bunny Bonnet pictured in size Adult Small/Medium |
I know my seasonality is a little off right now, but as soon as I received these Easter-colored skeins in the mail I knew that a bonnet would have to be on my list. And my biggest goal was to play with color – not just a slipped stitch color pattern (although you know I love those!), but good ol’ intarsia. Which ended up being a good choice for this project, since you can make it all using straight needles back and forth – no pesky in-the-round intarsia required!
Sizes: Adult Small/Medium (Adult Medium/Large)
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky (100% Merino Wool; 100 yards [91 meters]/100 grams); #192 Periwinkle – one skein (color A), #21 Cactus Flower – one skein (color B), & #83 Water Green – one skein (color C)
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| A better look at the back finish. |
Needles: Straight needles in size US 9, straight needles in size US 11
Notions: Tapestry needle, roughly 12″ of scrap yarn
Gauge: 12 stitches = 4 inches in stockinette on size US 11 needles
Let’s make a bonnet, then! Using your size US 9 needles and your color A yarn, cast on 79 (87) stitches loosely, and then we’ll work a ribbing as follows:
Ribbing Row 1 (wrong side): p1, * k1, p1; rep from *
Ribbing Row 2: k1, * p1, k1 *
Knit ribbing rows 1 & 2 until piece measures roughly 1.75″ (2.25″) and you’ve just finished a wrong side row. Transfer work to your size US 11 needles, and we’ll knit two transition rows, as follows. Notice that your second row contains intarsia color changes, so you can use your standard intarsia join.
Transition Row 1 (right side): using your color A yarn, slip 1 stitch purlwise (sl1), then knit until end of row
Transition Row 2: using color A, sl1, p40 (sl1, p44). Switch to your color B yarn and p19 (p21); finally, switch to your color C yarn and p19 (p21)
Complete these two transition rows. Then we’ll begin our intarsia rows with decreases to create the flappy bits, as follows:
Intarsia Decrease Row 1: using color C, sl1, (ssk) twice, knit until you’re one stitch before your B/C color change, and switch to color B. Using color B, knit until you’re one stitch before your A/B color change, and switch to color A. Knit until you have 5 stitches left in row; (k2tog) twice, k1 (-4 stitches)
Intarsia Decrease Row 2: using color A, sl1, and then purl until you’re one stitch past your A/B color change; switch to color B. Using color B, purl until you’re one stitch past your B/C color change, and switch to color C. Using color C, purl until end of row
Knit intarsia decrease rows 1 & 2 until you have 71 stitches (79 stitches) remaining and you’ve just finished an intarsia decrease row 2. Then we’ll move to a supplemental set of decrease rows, with fewer decreases, as you’ll find below.
Supplemental Intarsia Decrease Row 1: using color C, sl1, ssk, knit until you’re one stitch before your B/C color change, and switch to color B. Using color B, knit until you’re one stitch before your A/B color change, and switch to color A. Knit until you have 3 stitches left in row; k2tog, k1 (-2 stitches)
Supplemental Intarsia Decrease Row 2: using color A, sl1, and then purl until you’re one stitch past your A/B color change; switch to color B. Using color B, purl until you’re one stitch past your B/C color change, and switch to color C. Using color C, purl until end of row
Knit supplemental intarsia decrease rows 1 & 2 until you have 67 (73) stitches remaining and you’ve just finished supplemental intarsia decrease row 2. Then we’ll work back and forth, without decreases, as you’ll find below. And yes, you will naturally run out of color C stitches; just clip the tail of color C when that happens and keep working in pattern in colors A & B.
Intarsia Row 1: using color C, knit until you’re one stitch before your B/C color change, and switch to color B. Using color B, knit until you’re one stitch before your A/B color change, and switch to color A. Knit until end of row.
Intarsia Row 2: using color A, purl until you’re one stitch past your A/B color change; switch to color B. Using color B, purl until you’re one stitch past your B/C color change, and switch to color C. Using color C, purl until end of row
Work these intarsia rows until piece measures roughly 6″ (7″) and you’ve just finished an intarsia row 1. Clip the tail of your color B yarn, since you’re done with it. Then we’ll knit the following transition row:
Transition Row (wrong side): using color A, purl
Complete this transition row, and then we’ll move to the decreases, as follows. Notice that, if you’re making the larger size, you will have two extra decrease rows at the beginning; accordingly, you can skip straight to decrease row 3 if you’re making the smaller size.
Decrease Row 1 – size Adult Medium/Large only (right side): using color A, * k10, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (67 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 2 – size Adult Medium/Large only: using color A, purl
Decrease Row 3: using color A, * k9, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (61 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 4: using color A, purl
Decrease Row 5: using color A, * k8, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (55 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 6: using color A, purl
Decrease Row 7: using color A, * k7, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (49 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 8: using color A, purl
Decrease Row 9: using color A, * k6, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (43 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 10: using color A, p1, * p2tog, p5 * (37 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 11: using color A, * k4, k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (31 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 12: using color A, p1 * p2tog, p3 * (25 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 13: using color A, * k2tog; rep from * until you have 1 stitch left in row, end k1 (13 stitches – both sizes)
Decrease Row 14: using color A, p1, * p2tog * (7 stitches – both sizes)
Complete decrease rows 1 – 14 and use tapestry needle to thread remaining 7 stitches to scrap yarn, to work later. Then we’ll seam, beginning at the bottom of the hat, and roughly where you phased out your color C yarn (as you can see in the picture below; the bonnet is seamed from the top of my color C portion). Seam until you reach top; thread seaming yarn through final 7 stitches and pull tight. Thread to inside of hat, knot, and tuck in ends. Block, if desired (you can also block before seaming, if you’d prefer). Finally, make tassels and attach to ends of flaps, for funsies.
