How to Knit a KidsKnit Hat

Directions: 

1. Tie a slip knot at the end of the yarn and place in onto the small peg on the side of the loom. Gently tighten it, but don’t tighten it so much that you can’t get it off. 

2. Hold the loom upright in your left hand with the small side peg facing towards you. With your right hand and starting at the peg just below the small side peg, wrap the yarn around each peg with the yarn going past the back off the peg and then back up and around the front of the peg. Work your way around the loom in this direction until you have one loop on each peg around the loom. Remember not to wrap too tightly. 

3. Work your way around the loom, pushing down each loop and allowing room at the top of the peg for an additional loop.

4. Continue around the loom in the same fashion for a second row of loops on each peg. 

5. Lightly wrap the yarn around the side peg to hold your yarn in place while you get your knitting hook. 

6. Use your knitting hook to pull the bottom loop up over the top of the top loop and the top of the peg. 

7. Continue this hooking step around the loom until you work your way back to the starting side peg. You now have one loop remaining on each peg of the loom. 

8. Work your way around the loom, pushing down each loop and allowing room at the top of the peg for an additional loop.

9. Unwrap your working yarn from the side peg and follow step 2 again. Hold the loom upright in your left hand with the small peg facing towards you. With your right hand, wrap each peg with the yarn going past the peg and then back up and around. Work your way around the loom until you have looped every peg. You will again have two rows of loops on each of the pegs. 

10. Follow step 5 again and lightly wrap the yarn around the side peg to hold your yarn in place while you get your knitting hook.

11. Follow step 6 again and use your knitting hook to pull the bottom loop up over the top of the top loop and the top of the peg. Continue this around the entire loom until you again have one row of loops on the loom. Follow step 8 to push each loop down on the peg and allow room at the top of the peg for an additional loop. 

12. Continue steps 9 through 11 again, knitting around the loom. The hat will begin to form on the inside of the loom, making a tube that will grow longer with each time you loop the yarn over the pegs. 

13. After several rounds of knitting, slide the slip knot that you used to secure your yarn at the beginning of your project off of the side peg. 

14. When the tube that you are knitting measures approximately 8 ½ -9 inches long, you will be almost finished with your ball of KidKnits yarn. Leave about an arm’s length of KidKnits yarn to secure your knitted “tube” into a hat. 
15. Thread your remaining yarn strand with the small plastic needle. You will next thread the yarn through each loop on the loom. Start with the loop on the right of the small side peg. Thread the yarn from the bottom of the loop to the top of the loop, and then take your needle to the next loop and repeat. Work your way completely around the loom. 

16. Thread the needle and yarn through your first loop a second time.

17. Take the loops off of the circular loom by using your knitting hook and pulling each loop up and over each peg. Work your way around the loom pulling off each stitch.

18. When your hat is off of the loom, pull the thread that you just stitched around the last row and the top of your tube will close into a hat. Secure the closure of the hat by making several knots on the inside of the hat and tucking them inside the top hole. 

19. You now have a KidKnits hat made with handspun, all natural, hand-dyed soft merino wool made by the widows who work with True Vineyard Ministries in Rwanda. Your hat gave one of these women her salary for a day’s work. One ball of yarn. One woman. One day’s salary. One way to change the world.