As a lot of you may know, I love to knit. This is a pattern I’ve developed over about a year. The following is an effort to share it as a pattern someone may find useful.
Knit both with double pointed needles and also with circular needles. Knit from the bottom up, all in one piece.
Begin with 2 size four needles (I used Crystal palace, bamboo ones. I prefer bamboo needles for the way the hold the wool while knitting). Begin by making and I-Cord (4 or 5 stitches thick) about 11 inches long.
Start making the ear flap by knitting in stockinette stitch back and forth and increasing two, every second row. So, k1, k1(increase 1), k1 (increase 1) k1. Turn, purl back, turn, knit back, then purl one more row, then on the knit row, increase at the second stitch in from either side. (based on a 4 stitch i-cord)
Every 4 rows, you’ll be gaining 2 stitches.
Do this till you reach a stitch count of 20 (or 21, if you did a 5 stitch i-cord)
Now, transfer your 20 or 21 stitches to a 16 inch size five round knitting needle. On the knit side cast on 30 additional stitches. Break yarn, leaving a long tail and repeat the i-cord and ear flap process. Transfer stitches to round needle at the last stitch of the 30, and cast on another 30 to 35.
I like to make my toques a bit on the large size. They can always be carefully felted down a bit. This pattern fits an adult head and is quite slouchy (in a good way).
so, now that you’ve got your two earflaps at 20 (or 21) each, plus your 30 and 30 (or 35), that’s about 100 stitches. Which for every toque I’ve made for an adult has worked out swimmingly.
Join in a round and knit, knit, knit. Be creative with stripes and colour combinations, if you want. Plain, one colour toques are lovely too. Oooo, there are some great variegated yarns out there if you get inspired.
Oh, and yarn. I’ve been loving working with Cascade 100% Peruvian Highland Wool striped with maybe a 50/50% wool alpaca blend. I also adore the noro wools for their silk content and unique feel. The Noro wools don’t felt very well though. So beware if you think your toque might need some felting.
Yep, knit away till your toque measures about 7-7.5 inches (from forehead, not bottom of earflap). Try it on, carefully drawstring closed the circular needles to see how it changes the toque size. Now start to decrease. I like to decrease suddenly and I like the effect this has on the crown. It puckers in. If you want to avoid this, decrease more gradually. When it becomes too tight to continue on the round needle, switch to 3 or 4 double pointed needles.
Keep decreasing until you’ve only got 3 stitches left, then break yarn, thread through. Take care of loose ends with a darning needle and YOU’RE DONE.
This is my account of a toque patten. I’m 29 years old, and providing instructions in a grandparent-ish way. ‘A little of this, a little of that, do it till your done’ way. Meant for somewhat experienced knitters. Apologies if I’ve skipped over anything. Definitely a pattern of evolution. Evolved over much time and many crappy toques.