Skills required:
knowledge of common knitting abbreviations
knit & purl stitches
knitting in-the-round
decreasing
picking up stitches
Materials:
stitch markers (one in a contrast color)
US 8 16" circular needle and DPNs
Red Heart Super Saver solids in Royal Blue, Bright Yellow, and Cherry Red
scissors
yarn needle
one opaque red star-shaped button and seven opaque white star-shaped buttons
Directions:
With the blue yarn, CO 84 sts using the long-tail method. Join, being careful not to twist. Knit 2x2 rib for 8 rnds. Then knit one rnd. Break yarn leaving a 6” tail.
With yellow yarn, leave a 6" tail and knit one round and then purl one round. Rep these two rnds for 5 garter ridges ending on a purl round. Break yarn leaving a 6” tail. At this point, use split-ring stitch markers to mark the center 21 sts. This is where you will pick up and knit the triangle part of the tiara later.
With red yarn, leave a 6" tail and knit in St st until the hat is 5” from the CO edge. Keep the stitch markers denoting the center 21 sts in place and add two more stitch markers in between every 21 sts for a total of five stitch markers. Use a contrast color for the end-of-rnd stitch marker to differentiate it from the dec markers.
The crown is essentially the same crown as Jared Flood’s “Turn A Square” hat. I used this crown for this hat because it shows off the triangle of the tiara quite nicely. On the first rnd of the crown dec, knit to two sts before marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog; rep to end of rnd. Then knit one rnd all the way around. Rep these two rnds (switching to DPNs when necessary) until 12 sts rem (3 sts on each of the four DPNs). Break yarn leaving a 6” tail and thread through rem sts.
At this point, you will be adding the triangle to complete the tiara. Using the yellow yarn (leave a 12” tail to sew with later) with the blue brim facing you, pick up the center 21 sts that were marked earlier. On the next row, sl the first st pw and knit all the way across. You will be slipping every first st of every row pw. This creates a smooth edge to sew later (and it looks better). On the rows with the brim facing you, sl the first st pw, ssk, k to 3 rem sts, k2tog, k1. Then knit the next row all the way across (make sure to sl the first st pw). Rep these two rows until 3 sts rem. Then do a s2kp dec, break yarn (leave another 12” tail), and thread through the last st. At this point, sew on a red star-shaped button (I found one at JoAnn, along with matching white star-shaped buttons) onto the middle of the triangle with a scrap piece of yellow yarn (or use red yarn, if you prefer to blend in with the star). Use the yellow tails to sew down the triangle to the red body of the hat. Then sew the white star buttons onto the blue brim as you like with either blue yarn or scrap white yarn if you have any. I sewed a white star button onto the middle of every other k rib section.
Weave in ends and wear with pride!
