Cute Chronicles – Pikmin Hats

Su-per cutesy happy fun knitting time!

Since the news of Pikmin 3 started trickling down, Pikmin hats have been on my to-knit list. I never actually finished Pikmin 1 myself. It was those huge bird enemies that you had to cross a tiny bridge to get to… I mistakenly charged right across the bridge, dropped half my Pikmin army into the water and then watched the other half get devoured. After that, I couldn’t bear it but asked someone else to do it for me, and watched through my fingers.

They’re just so cute and yes, nature is like this and things get eaten and things die and really, they’re not real but they’re Pikmin. And they’re so little and sweet and so silly-looking and the way the flowers/leaves/buds bob on their heads when they move? So adorable I can barely stand it.

I fared better with Pikmin 2 because of the variety, and I look forward to Pikmin 3. Meanwhile, I’ll tide myself over by playing the Pikmin game on Nintendo Land which feels a little less brutal because the enemies are little machines and your Miis are essentially playing dressup – it’s feels more ‘pretend’ in a way and yes I know how ridiculous that sounds. I’ll be over here, commanding Pikmin with the gamepad while wearing one of these hats.

People I knitted these for insisted on having a leaf because they don’t want to be ‘grown up’ (I also plan on making mini leaf ones for babies) but I made a flower one for myself too. Not a bud one (yet?) because who wants to float in not-quite-little-not-quite-grown limbo?

The pattern is more of a set of notes because I compiled the various pieces through experimentation, and other free patterns available on the internet. It’s a sweet and easy knit, and it’s recognisably Pikmin if you know what Pikmin are, but subtle enough to just look like a cutesy hat.
The leaf/flower is attached to the hat because I thought a bobbing bit flying around all the time would be annoying, plus it gives the hat some more structure. Of course, you can leave it to fly free, if you wish! Or knit a thicker stem and fill it with some shapeable wire, maybe.

Materials: 4mm 30cm long circular needles, set of 4mm double-pointed needles, stitch marker, darning needle/knitter’s needle. Gauge: 5 stitches, 8 rows = 1 inch square in stockinette stitch. Always recommended to check your gauge but to be honest this one is flexible because it’s only a hat with a simple decrease.

Pattern:

1. For a medium-size adult hat, cast on 120 stitches on circular needle. Place marker, join in round making sure stitches lie flat to avoid twisting.
2. Knit in the round until hat is desired length (before shaping for crown). Hat is knit in the round – plain stitches will appear as stockinette. Brim will roll up naturally, so take this into account before you decide to start shaping. I knitted roughly for 15 cm before I started crown shaping so the hat would be a standard round shape rather than particularly elongated.
3. Crown shaping: K9, k2 together until end of row. Pattern won’t end exactly at end of row. Next row, k all the way round. Third row, k8, k2 together. Fourth row, k all the way round. Continue decreasing in this manner – k7, k2 together, next row k all the way round, next row k6, k2 together etc all the way until you reach a k3, k2 together row. After your k3, k2 together row, knit 3 rows plain (k all the way round) before moving to k2, k2 together. After this row, knit 2 rows plain (k all the way round) before moving to k2 together all the way around. Switch to dpns when necessary.
4. You will eventually end up with 6~ stitches – knit 2 together as necessary to leave 5 on your needle. Switch to knitting 5 stitch i-cord for 12 rows to make the ‘stem’.
5. For leaf: Cut red (Pikmin colour) yarn, leaving long tail. Join green yarn, knit a further 2 rows of i-cord before starting leaf. I used The Tikkun Tree‘s pattern for “a ribbed double-sided TikkunTree ‘Safed’ leaf for straight needles, knit flat with side seam”. I knitted this flat, and sewed up the seam with the tail end of my green yarn. I wove in all ends, and thanks to my habit for leaving long tails, there was enough yarn attached to the leaf/stem to sew the side of it to the hat, leaving the stem to stand as a little loop.
6. For flower: Cast off 5 i-cord stitches, leave long tail for sewing. For the flower, I went with Knit Culture’s Spring flowers for the petals. I made five for accuracy but instead of leaving the petals lying flat, I sewed them up the side seam to create 3D puffy petals more suited to a Pikmin, sewing them together to make a flower.
For the middle, there are many ways to knit a circle. This daisy hat has a nice explanation although I added a few extra rows to make the middle a little larger. Finally, I sewed the middle to the flower before sewing the flower to the stem, and then finally to the hat, attaching it so that it lay as flat as possible.


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