Railway Children Tam

On a youngster (my lovely model, Uma, is 7 years old), this tam looks quite cute. And, as her dad pointed out, it looks a bit like the hat/tam/beret that Jenny Agutter wears in the famous film. Having that as reference point certainly dates us somewhat, but it's a nice one too. So, if anyone fancies it, here's the pattern - it's not over complicated and could easily be made bigger to fit an adult, by casting on more stitches in the first place for the short row sections. As this size takes up about one and a half balls of the recommended yarn, you'd probably get an adult size out of two balls quite comfortably.

Railway Children Tam

Yarn: Freedom Spirit Chunky by Twilleys, two 50g balls - this pattern takes up about one and half balls.

Needles: Size 5.5mm, US 9. I used two circulars, but dpns would work just as well. Use your preferred method.

SKILLS:
CO using a provisional method - great instructions can be found here, Provisional Cast On methods - use whichever method suits you best.

Grafting last short row section to first for a seamless look, I used the instructions by Isolde Teague in her Urchin pattern.

ABBREVIATIONS:
w+t - wrap and turn. There's a great tutorial here at Purl Bee. 

Slp 1 - slip one purlwise

INSTRUCTIONS:

Make 1st short row section as follows:

CO 24 using provisional method.

1:   K
2 :  Slp 1, P17, K4, w+t
3:   K
4:   Slp 1, P16, K4, w+t
5:   K
6:   Slp 1, P15, K4, w+t
7:   K
8:   Slp 1, P14, K4, w+t
9:   K
10: Slp 1, P13, K4, w+t

Continue in pattern as above until you reach row 34.

34:  Slp 1, P1, K4, w+t.
35:  K
36:  As row 2. This is the start of a new short row section. Continue in pattern until you have made 5 sections in total, ending with row 35. Leaving a long enough tail, cut yarn ready to graft the sections together. A generous measure about five times the length of the longest row (all 24 stitches) should be plenty.

Grafting:
See skills section above. Graft the live stitches from the CO edge to the live stitches on your needle. I worked from the outside edge to the centre, and then knit a little 2 stitch i-cord loop for the top.

Alternatively you could cast off and sew the seam, or work a three needle bind off.

Using your preferred method for knitting in the round, pick up 86 st around the outer edge, using the slipped stitches as a guide.

(By the way....As it turns out, 86 is a tricksy number, as you now need to make a series of decreases, and I discovered that 86 doesn't divide up so easily. The solution is simple if lacking in elegance.....)

You may want to place a marker for the beginning of the round - I find that using two circulars on a small project like this makes it easy to keep track of the rounds.

1: K2 tog, K to end of round
2: K
3: K
4: Begin decreasing as follows: (K2tog, K15) 5 times
5: (K2tog, K14) 5 times
6: (K2tog, K13) 5 times
7: (K2tog, K12) 5 times
8: (K2tog, K11) 5 times

60 st remaining.

Work 5 rounds K1, P1 rib.

CO using this method, for plenty of give. There is a jog at the end of a circular bind off, but you can find a method to minimise this at Purple Sage.

Many thanks Uma, and especially to her mum Sarah for kind permission to use these images.