Cascade Yarns FW Fingering Dot & Dashes Hat Knitting Pattern

Cascade Yarns FW Fingering Dot & Dashes Hat

What Is Being Made

The Cascade Yarns FW Fingering Dot & Dashes Hat is a women's knitted beanie designed by Linda Medina. This seamless hat features a finished circumference of 20–21 inches and a height of 8 inches, making it suitable for adult women. The design incorporates a distinctive pattern of dots and dashes created through colorwork stripes and short-row shaping, resulting in a visually dynamic and textured crown.

Techniques Used

This hat is constructed using several intermediate-level knitting techniques that create its signature appearance:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The hat is knitted from the brim upward, beginning with a cast-on of 156 stitches.
• Seamless, Worked in the Round: The entire hat is worked circularly using a 16-inch circular needle, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a smooth, continuous fabric.
• Short-Row Shaping: The stitch pattern employs short rows with strategic turning points to create the dot and dash motifs. Stitches are slipped purlwise with yarn held in front or back of work to control the appearance of the pattern.
• Colorwork Stripes: Multiple contrast colors are introduced and cut throughout the pattern, creating distinct color bands that form the visual design.
• Yarn Overs and Decreases: The pattern includes knit 2 together (k2tog) decreases and yarn over (yo) increases to shape the crown as needed.

Stitches Used

The hat employs a variety of fundamental and intermediate stitches worked in multiples of 12 stitches:

• Knit and Purl Stitches: The foundation of the pattern, used throughout the ribbing and stitch pattern sections.
• Ribbing (K1, P1): Creates the elastic cuff at the brim, worked over ten rounds following the rolled edge.
• Slipped Stitches: Stitches are slipped purlwise with yarn in back (wyib) or yarn in front (wyif) to create the dot and dash texture and define pattern boundaries.
• Knit 2 Together (K2tog): A right-leaning decrease used for shaping.
• Yarn Overs (Yo): Used to create openwork or compensate for decreases in the pattern.
• Garter Stitch Sections: Plain knit rounds create solid-color bands between the patterned sections.

Materials

The hat is crafted from Cascade Yarns Cascade 220® Fingering, a premium yarn made from 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. The project requires one 50-gram skein (3.5 ounces) each in five coordinating colors:

• Color #8892 (Dark Teal) – Main Color (MC)
• Color #7825 (Orange) – Contrast Color 1 (CC1)
• Color #7802 (Magenta) – Contrast Color 2 (CC2)
• Color #8903 (Lime) – Contrast Color 3 (CC3)
• Color #8908 (Aqua) – Contrast Color 4 (CC4)

Needles and Notions: The project uses US Size 3 (3.25 mm) needles, including one 16-inch circular needle for the main body and a set of two Size 3 double-pointed needles (dpns) for the crown decreases. A stitch marker is required to mark the beginning of each round.

Gauge and Finished Dimensions

The pattern is worked at a gauge of 31 stitches and 38 rows per 4 inches over the stitch pattern. This fingering-weight gauge creates a dense, durable fabric suitable for a structured, fitted hat. The finished hat measures 20–21 inches in circumference and 8 inches in height.