Milky Way Hat Pattern

Wind five bobs with white. You may wind four or five bobs with navy if you wish, or you may use separate, small balls of navy yarn instead, though I recommend bobs since they won't tangle as much.

Pattern:

With straight needles, cast on 96 sts with navy. Increase or decrease the number of sts in multiples of 10 for a larger or smaller hat. This will alter the number of navy sts between the white spirals by 2 sts; bear that in mind when referring to the chart and decreases. Alternatively, you could use a smaller or larger needle size.

Work in K1P1 rib for 3 inches, ending with a wrong side row.

Switch to St st and begin pattern.

This is the chart:

This is the legend to the chart.

This is the chart in color. I left the symbols in place in case the colors on your monitor or printer are not the same as mine.

The chart repeats four times across. Repeat pattern until hat measures about 7 inches from beginning, ending with a wrong side row. Begin decreases.

The first 11 rows of decreases affect the blue field only while the white spirals remain the same size; this causes the four spirals to draw closer together to represent the galactic bulge in the middle of our galaxy. In order to keep the white spirals the same size, the decreases are spaced on either side of each white spiral.

Since the decreases affect the blue field only but the white spiral pattern continues, I found that traditionally spaced decreases wouldn't work. Thusly, for the decreases on this hat, I decided to place the decreases on either side of each white spiral. That is:

K the 8 white sts as written in pattern. Then K1 in navy, ssk, K to last 2 navy sts before next white spiral, K2tog. Then K1 in navy so as to continue pattern.

If there are only one or two navy sts on the end of the needle where you need to place the decreases (e.g., if you are placing a decrease at the beginning of row two or three of the pattern), simply work the decreases on the other end of the needle where there are a sufficient number of sts.

This will leave the white spirals intact while lessening the number of blue sts between each white spiral by two. So your decreases should result in the following:

Row 1: Dec to 14 sts between each spiral—88 sts.
Row 2 and all even rows: Work in pattern.
Row 3: Dec to 12 sts between each spiral—80 sts.
Row 5: Dec to 10 sts between each spiral—72 sts.
Row 7: Dec to 8 sts between each spiral—64 sts.
Row 9: Dec to 6 sts between each spiral—56 sts.
Row 11: Dec to 4 sts between each spiral—48 sts. Note: For the second decrease, you will have to work one navy and one white st together.
Row 13: Dec to 2 sts between each spiral—40 sts.
Row 15: Dec the two remaining navy sts as follows: With the first navy st, ssk with white. With the second navy sts, K2tog with white.

Thusly, all four spirals converge and you are now working only with white—32 sts. (Since you are now working only with one color, you may remove all but one white yarn bob and join and work in the round for the remaining few rows if you wish.) Work the remaining decreases as follows:

Row 15: K2, K2tog—24 sts.
Row 17: K1, K2tog—16 sts.
Row 19: K2tog—8 sts.

Cut off long end of yarn and thread it through remaining 8 sts and pull tight. Sew back seam (taking care to match colors); block; weave in all ends.