did you ever put on a sleeve and it was twisted and you couldn’t get through? or tights? these are just prone to twist and make you a hard time pulling them up. This twist however was the idea for the Cyclone hat – I wanted something with a twisted crown and I started knitting and it actually worked the way I felt it might! whoop whoop.
Super big plus with Cyclone: you don’t increase or even decrease.
Extra big plus: it’s double layered, which means it’s warm. I like that. Oh and this also makes two hats in one, you can reverse it!
I prefer to call this pattern a recipe, as I feel like I want you to understand the idea behind this hat, so you will be able to make Cyclone for any person, with any yarn and any needle and use whatever stitch pattern you like. So super adjustable too.
(I might have called this hat the “super hat” – I just realise there’s a lot of supers in this text so far.)
Anyways, now onto the recipe:
#cyclonehat
yarn and needles: choose whatever you like! yes whatever. I would recommend not to go with needles bigger than 4.5 mm. You want to get a fabric that will flow nicely, so choose a needle that will allow you this with your chosen yarn. Also if you knit very tightly normally, go up a needle size. Keep in mind that Cyclone is double layered, so the yarn you choose will be double layered too. Going too big might end up too warm.
The one pictured here was made with 3mm needles and Malabrigo Mechita yarn (in colorway dried orange) – just so you get an idea. (for a few pictures and details on a slouchy version click here)
swatch: well – in generel I’m always pro the swatching. In this case (as we are making a hat) and you don’t feel all bad about ripping your knitting out when you don’t like what you get or if it’s not going to fit – just go ahead and cast on (rip in case you need to) otherwise, make a swatch! count your stitches per 10 cm and multiply them with 5.4. This will get you the number of stitches you need to fit your head.
(why 5.4? – simple math: assuming your head circumference is 56cm and you want a nice snug fit, you would go with 54cm. According to rule of three you’d multiply with 54/10, which is 5.4)
the trick: Cyclone is knitted in one piece. With a provisional cast on you’ll knit a tube in the circumference of your head, then after reaching the desired length and before sewing both ends together you’ll twist the hat 180° and then you’ll sew it closed, might sound a bit weird right now, but you’ll see – trust me:
cast on: as mentioned above cast on as many stitches as it takes to get around your head. I would recommend a provisional cast on for example with the crochet method.
Cyclone is reversible so you’ll be knitting two hats in one. Basically you will knit one piece that consists of a first hat – a brim – and a second hat. After you’ve cast on the desired number of stitches now knit the first hat. Use whatever pattern you like, I made a simple stockinette stitch one for my first side. It will lay nicely and smooth.
Knit in this way until you reach 19.5 cm length.
Now it’s time for the brim, (k1,p1) is always a nice tight brim. (I went on with the same yarn and went for 1×1). If you want something different, go for it. (k2, p2) or (k3, p1) or (k1, p3) are just a few options. Knit in your chosen brim pattern until brim measures 11cm.
And the second hat will follow: again choose something you like and knit until you reach 19.5 cm in length. (I went for broken seed stitch and added nice pale green, the ends of this I’ve sewn in. Other than that I kept going with the first color)
The total length of your Cyclone will therefore be 19.5+11+19.5=50cm
This length is the length you want to have in the end, if you feel like a shorter or wider brim, adjust the two hat parts accordingly. If you want more slouchy-ness, make both hat parts equally longer.
Bind off: Now the trick to make things easy – crucial step – knit another half round in stitch pattern. Only a half round (well maybe an extra 10 or so stitches for good measure). This will make sure, when grafting, that you’ll automatically twist the hat at 180° and that the stitches to graft are next to each other.
Put the provisional cast on stitches back on some extra needles (they don’t need to be exact size, a little smaller is welcome, only make sure your stitches won’t slip too easy).
Now cut the yarn about 4 times the length of the circumference of your hat, put the yarn tail on a darning needle and holding both ends of the hat together (so essentially fold one half into the other, wrong sides facing each other), start binding off/grafting. As you’ve knit another half round, holding both ends of the hat together will twist the hat in itself. This will create the twisted crown effect. It’s pretty easy overall, only might sound a bit strange at first.
Here’s a video on a tubular bind off, this made me finally understand the logic of sewing two knitting fabrics together. Start watching at about 3.40min, here you see the two fabric layers, how to measure your yarn end and the “in and out” move to graft.
And now it’s done, sew in ends and wear your Cyclone with joy 🙂
if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below
hugs Diana
mamamoo13 January 9, 2017 at 10:35 pm
Fabulous concept! I will be giving this pattern a try. Thank you for making it free. : )
Barbara January 10, 2017 at 8:04 pm
Hmmm… looks interesting, and new techniques to learn and practice. Going to go dig through my stash! Thanks for sharing the pattern.
Ann Madison January 11, 2017 at 1:55 am
Great idea. Thank-you for this hat design.
Donna Friesen January 11, 2017 at 2:05 am
Wow, love this concept! Can’t wait to give it a try and thank you for making it free. It will be interesting to see what everyone chooses to make this hat out of and the results!
Diana January 11, 2017 at 6:28 am
Can’t wait to see that too 🙂
Thank you and A great day for you
mcihele eisenberg January 11, 2017 at 8:46 pm
adorable hat
Amy January 11, 2017 at 11:41 pm
Interesting construction! So, if your hat is 300 stitches around, does this mean that you are binding off stitch 1 of one hat with stitch 150 or 160 of the other hat? Is that how the twist is produced? (I understand the rest, just not sure of this point.)
Diana January 12, 2017 at 7:41 am
Hi Amy, you are grafting the cast on (that’s why it’s provisional) and the bind off edge together. If the hat would have 300 around (meaning you casted on 300sts and were knitting 300 in every round until bind off) you would have to sew together (=grafting) 300 from the cast on and 300 from the bind off. Does this help?
hugs
Amy January 12, 2017 at 5:00 pm
Sorry, it’s the “twist” part I’m not getting. You said to knit about 1/2 the stitches (maybe plus 10) and then graft together. So if you’re at stitch 150 or 160 of the 300, are you grafting that to the #1 stitch of the cast on in order to get the twist? Just trying to clarify how you get the twist.
Diana January 13, 2017 at 8:32 am
oh right, if you would just stop at the marker and then fold the hat together so that the cast on and bind off will meet (so that both open stitches are aligned with each other) than you would just get a double layered tube.
With working another half round, now when you fold, so that the stitches will align and the beginning of each round is next to each other, you essentially have twisted the “tube” a bit. Try it with a sleeve, fold and don’t twist and then twist the sleeve a bit, you will see. I hope it’s clearer 🙂
Fran Allen March 9, 2017 at 3:23 am
I can’t figure out how you get the hat on….ribbing is closed up! Maybe I am over thinking this whole thing
Diana March 9, 2017 at 4:04 pm
maybe 🙂 really don’t think too much. Think of a sleeve that is twisted when you put it on, it’s closed at the end.
I hope the comment I answered on you last comment helps, if not just write again 🙂
Diana
Sharon Noel January 25, 2017 at 4:53 pm
I hope you didn’t cast on 300 sts – the hat will be huge!
juliah82 January 12, 2017 at 7:45 am
Thank you, this is pure genius. I love it!
Frida January 12, 2017 at 8:24 am
Thank you, love your pattern. I’m going to order the yarn
Mary Lynn January 12, 2017 at 1:27 pm
How much yarn did you use?
Diana January 13, 2017 at 8:40 am
it’s pretty hard to tell unfortunately as I’ve been using the same yarn in between for another project. from the malabrigo though I’d say I used about a whole skein (100gr)
Frida January 12, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Hi Amy, thanks for the beautiful recipe.
I looked for broken seed stitch and didn’t find?
and what is the added nice pale green?
Frida
Diana January 13, 2017 at 8:34 am
the green is thyme from madelinetosh prairie.
Broken seed stitch is basically working classic seed stitch and putting knit rounds in between. I’m putting a post on my hat with all the details at the moment
Diana 😉
Patti Parsons January 12, 2017 at 6:56 pm
Thank you for the pattern. It’s so clever and my ponytail will go through nicely too.
M. Wrice January 12, 2017 at 11:22 pm
Diana, this sounds both fun and interesting. I know you said one of the colors was Malabrigo Mechita in dried orange but, what is the other color and brand of yarn you were using. Is this reversible also ?
Diana January 13, 2017 at 8:27 am
the other is a madelintosh prairie, in thyme colorway, I’m putting together a post on my hat at the moment too
Helen January 14, 2017 at 1:36 pm
About how much yardage did you need with the malabrigo mechita?
Alison January 20, 2017 at 12:31 am
If I wanted to make my hat slouchy, how many cm per half would you suggest? Thanks!!
Diana January 20, 2017 at 1:02 pm
hm, I think that depends on how slouchy you’d like your hat. I’m making one now, just started, and I plan to add an extra 2cm per half. I don’t like mine to be super (smurf) slouchy, only enough to pull it down a little. For more I would add up 4 or maybe 5 cm per half, not more I think.
Jackie January 23, 2017 at 8:14 pm
Such a unique idea! May I ask how many stitches you cast on?
Diana January 26, 2017 at 6:56 pm
I cast on 170 sts, I also wrote a post on my hat specifically 🙂
http://www.cinnamonpurl.com/fo-cyclone-prototype/
Ruth March 5, 2017 at 1:52 am
It took me awhile to understand how the twist would occur through the bind off. I reread it like 5 times lol. So if i have 100 sts per round, i would knit 50 on the last round, then start grafting stitch 51 of the last round to stitch 1 of the first round?
Diana March 9, 2017 at 3:57 pm
exactly 🙂
Fran Allen March 7, 2017 at 5:17 am
Do I put one hat inside the other before I bind off. Or do I just twist and start the bind off with the two hats together. It seems one will be inside out….confused. do you have a video of grafting the hats together
Diana March 9, 2017 at 4:03 pm
Hi Fran, I have a video linked above on how to graft. But I didn’t made a video on grafting the actual hat. As you have a provisional cast on , you need to put the stitches back onto a needle. Now you have all the stitches from the cast on as well as all the stitches from the last round on a needle.
As you made a half round for the last round, now when you hold together (to graft) both needles you will automatically twist the hat and when you graft in the end you will automatically receive the look this hat achieves.
I hope this helps 🙂
Diana
B Lou Frarell May 29, 2017 at 3:56 am
Hi Diana, thank you for this ingenious pattern. The link for the tubular bind off video you listed is “no longer available”; do you have another video to recommend? I am ready to bind off and understand how to create the twist–excited to do so. Betty (Ravelry name: Tricotage)
Fran Allen March 10, 2017 at 1:45 am
Ok I folded the hat and twisted it and sewed it up but it did not work. When I put the two needles together to graft the stitches i had the pearl stitches in front and knit ones in back. that didn’t seem right but I sewed it up anyway and cannot get one hat to go inside the other!!! I think I did something wrong
Fran Allen March 12, 2017 at 6:32 am
I finished the hat…I think it would be a good idea for those of us who have trouble visualizing if you could say that the one hat needs to be put inside the other before grafting the two together….and that there is a hole in the top. Guess I just didn’t get it!! I do know after much knashing of teeth!! most interesting project.
Diana March 12, 2017 at 3:17 pm
that’s a good tip Fran 😀 I’ll add it
theroadyourhearttakes May 10, 2017 at 12:15 am
So, I’ve finished the hat, but mine is a tube. I did the knitting of about half a row, before grafting, but now I have a double sided tube. Do I just sew it together?
Jen cody July 31, 2017 at 3:25 am
I did not do a provisional cast on
Any tips on picking up the cast on stitches to graft?
Diana September 29, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Hi Jen, sorry for the late reply, I’d simply pick up stitches on the cast on edge with a crochet hook (so one whole round around) this way you’ll have a base for the grafting.
Then maybe just sewing together both sides would work too
Joyce Chi January 30, 2018 at 1:10 pm
Wonderful ! Love it !
I will be giving this pattern a try. Thank you for making it free. : )
Joyce Chi January 30, 2018 at 3:19 pm
Hi,
About the Binding off, It really make confusing and a little dizzing.
” Now cut the yarn about 4 times the length of the circumference of your hat, put the yarn tail on a darning needle and holding both ends of the hat together (so essentially fold one half into the other, wrong sides facing each other), start binding off/grafting. As you’ve knit another half round, holding both ends of the hat together will twist the hat in itself. This will create the twisted crown effect. It’s pretty easy overall, only might sound a bit strange at first. ”
I Still can’t figure it out. >.<
Anyone could help me about it ?
Thanks a lot.
elena December 3, 2018 at 4:26 am
When he was young, my son created a word for this phenomenon of a twisted sleeve or pants leg; it was said to be “gorded”. So mine version of this recipe will be the Gorded Hat for his girlfriend. They live in St. Paul, MN, where gorded headgear can be put to good use!
Diana January 17, 2019 at 3:48 pm
Minneapolis is so cold it keeps the bad people out 🙂 that’s what Prince always used to say. Love that I’m not the only one with the sleeve problem!
Karen Bowman December 4, 2018 at 8:49 pm
Thank you, Diana. I was so excited when I found your cyclone hat recipe. I bought a cyclone hat a few winters ago and have wanted to try knitting one ever since. My only problem (so far) is that I am in the USA and working with metric measurements (other than needle size) is beyond me. Do you have a USA version of your pattern with standard measurements?
Diana January 17, 2019 at 3:47 pm
google can calculate cm to inches super easy 🙂
I use it all the time for stuff like that, but besides that 4 inches is exactly 10 cm 🙂
Margit Tritt December 5, 2018 at 1:50 am
I’m trying to adapt this to a double bed knitting machine. I can’t knit rib in the round which is my primary challenge. I’ll play around with a mini-version to figure it out and then post results and hopefully, pictures!
Diana January 17, 2019 at 3:46 pm
would be great to know if you have found a way to do it 🙂
Corrie Allingham January 6, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Love this hat. Do you think it could be crocheted? I am trying to figure this out. First attempt unsuccessful . I need to decrease my stitch count. Beyond that, I am not sure how to tighten it up for the brim section. Any suggestions on crochet stitches that would work? Thanks!!
Diana January 17, 2019 at 3:45 pm
the twist would be easier I think in crochet, for the brim I think I would decrease my stitch count, I can’t think of any stitches that would give the same elasticity than a knitted ribbing would..but I keep think about it!