Is this a silly idea or a good idea? (Knitting related)

[IDugUpADiamond]

I am knitting my DS a beanie hat with Debbie Bliss Rialto. My DS has tried mine on (same yarn) and his slightly sticky out ears bulge through the ribbing. I do not want to fold up the ribbing so I was thinking, if I double or even treble up the yarn just for the 2x2 rib area and then continue with just one strand of yarn for the rest of the hat, the weight of the rib will push his ears back. Will this look okay as far as the hat goes though?

[Dutchoma]

Not sure, but could you not fold the rim in, rather than out and then hem it?

[IDugUpADiamond]

I guess I could but I'll have to sew it and I'd rather not...

[Dutchoma]

Why is that? Mind you, yo could alsways try to do it your wasy and frog it if it doesn't work out?

[IDugUpADiamond]

Because I'm rubbish at sewing and it will look a mess

[tribpot]

It sounds like ribbing might not be the best stitch, something with less give would have the same effect. Doubling up the yarn just for one section could look odd, but maybe worth a try.

[IDugUpADiamond]

What do you think might be the best stitch? I just need the hat to have enough weight around the ears so that they don't stick out. This will be knitted with flat needles by the way.

[IDugUpADiamond]

I love that hat LifeofPo but unfortunately I am not able to knit in the round. This limits massively what hat patterns I can do! I do understand the technique of knitting in the round, it is the way I hold my left needle that prevents me from using circular needles or dpns.

[starfishmummy]

I think you could do this. I once did a hat pattern where the bottom edge of the hat was in garter stitch using the yarn double and the rest of the hat was in single yarn in stocking stitch. DK yarn.

[Dutchoma]

If you are doing the hat on the flat you will have to do some sewing anyway. If you do it in a double rib you can see quite easily where t sew. Po's system it do-able, but sounds quite tricky.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I think doubling the yarn would be quite effective - it would look thicker, and would be a denser fabric.

Try it - worst case you have to rip it back and start again. Assuming you do the ribbing part first, you can get your ds to try it on as soon as you finish that bit, and see if it works, so you won't be ripping back too much (heartbreaking).

[tribpot]

I would do a linen stitch - less stretchy but looks gorgeous. I would also head to your local yarn shop to see if anyone can help you learn to knit in the round left-handed. There will be a way!

[roguepixie]

I think double or triple thickness would result in a denser rib and would be useful in flattening the ears back. You could also try doing twisted rib (knitting into the back of the stitch rather than the front, thereby 'twisting' the stitch) as I have found this to result in a firm rib.

[IDugUpADiamond]

Thank you all. I tried a triple yarn rib and I ended up having to undo it because it was really really thick and I think it would have prevented my son from hearing properly . I am going to try again with double yarn throughout and I'm going to look into the twisted rib.

[tribpot]

Twisted rib will pull in much more than regular rib, so the hat will look kind of insane if you switch above ear height.

What about something like this?

[roguepixie]

tribot - I've just finished a hat with twisted garter stitch as the rib and it didn't pull in but perhaps that's because it's garter stitch and not rib. Am so dense! I should actually think about what the OP has asked for. Sorry OP.

Anyway, thanks for the link to that pattern. I've saved it. It looks lovely.

[IDugUpADiamond]

Circular needles??

[roguepixie]

God, just re-read my post and I sound weird!! Really meant my post in fun - apologies if I sound weird.

IDug - are you that you can't use circ's? Have you checked out YouTube for tutorials, if you don't have someone to show you? I taught myself from there - wonderful resource.

[tribpot]

.

The World War II cap can be done flat.

[IDugUpADiamond]

Hi roguepixie. Yes, I feel sad whenever I see lovely hat patterns that call for circular needles because I can't use them. When I knit, I keep my right needle wedged under my right armpit. There's no way I can knit with 'floating' needles, believe me I've tried. I learned to knit when I was seven years old (many decades ago!) and I firmly believe that the way you learned, that's the way you'll knit.

tribpot how can I knit that hat with flat needles?

[tribpot]

I guess you're knitting using the lever or Irish cottage style - you can see some examples of it here. For small circumferences the trick seems to be to balance the needle over your hand like a pencil, so held still as it is by your armpit on a longer needle.

It is possible to learn a different style of knitting but it requires a lot of persistence, and possibly more than you want to put in given you already have a very fast style.

If you follow the <a class="break-all" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20100919154401/www.cocoabeachyarn.com/patterns/classicwatchcap.pdf" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">link to the WW2 pattern it has instructions for straight needles on page 2.