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Seated cat beanie (duplicate stitch)

A plain stockinette beanie written by our hat engine, with the Purlgrid seated cat silhouette embroidered on the front in duplicate stitch afterwards. No stranded floats: the cat uses the same chart as the cushion and the C2C blanket, one square per stitch.

Original Purlgrid recipe · engine-checked counts · diagrams are previews, not photographs of a physically made sample.

Supplies and skills

DK or light worsted yarn in oat and deep indigo, 40 cm circular needles in two sizes, double-pointed needles or a long circular for the crown, stitch markers and a blunt yarn needle.

Knitting in the round
k2, p2 rib and crown decreases
Duplicate stitch

How to make it

Swatch in stockinette in the round and block it. The four sizes are calculated for 20 sts and 28 rounds per 10 cm; change needle size until you match. Other gauges are accepted only if every hat check still passes.
Choose the size by head circumference. Cast on, work the rib, the plain body rounds and the crown exactly as written.
Weave in the ends and block the hat.
Embroider the cat in duplicate stitch at the stated rounds and stitches, centred on the front, following the chart from the outside.

The cat is surface embroidery: a second layer of yarn over 205 stitches, so the motif area is slightly thicker and less stretchy than the rest of the hat.

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Cast on: 96
Rounds in all: 59
Circumference: 48.0 cm
Height: 21.1 cm

Adult S: for a 50–53 cm head, 4–9% negative ease. Gauge: 20 sts and 28 rounds per 10 cm in stockinette in the round, after blocking. The hat body is written by the same engine as our catalogue hats; the cat is not knitted in (no floats) but embroidered afterwards in duplicate stitch, one chart square per stitch.

Source motif pg-seated-cat-v1 · 16 × 22 squares · 205 motif squares in deep indigo on oat. Row 1 is the bottom row. The same chart, in the same orientation, is used for the hat, the cushion and the C2C blanket. On the hat each square is one stitch (1 × 1).

Engine schematic of the front half of the hat laid flat, at your stitch proportions (a stitch is wider than it is tall, so the knitted cat looks a little shorter than the square chart). Not a photograph or yarn render.

Hat instructions

Terms used here: k = knit; p = purl; k2tog = knit the next 2 stitches together as one (1 stitch fewer); rnd = round; sts = stitches; MC = main colour; duplicate stitch = embroidery that covers one knitted V with a new strand.

Brim

With smaller needle and MC, cast on 96 sts. Place marker for beginning of round and join, being careful not to twist.
Rib rnd: *k2, p2; rep from * to end.
Repeat rib rnd until brim measures 3.9 cm / 1.5" (11 rnds).

Body

Change to larger needle. Knit 2 rnds with MC.
With MC, knit 29 rnds; hat measures 15 cm / 6" from cast-on edge. On the last of these rnds place the crown markers: *K12, place marker; rep from * 6 more times, k12 — 8 sections of 12 sts (the beginning-of-round marker ends the last section).

Crown

Dec rnd: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, k2tog, slip marker; rep from * to end — 8 sts decreased.
Knit 1 rnd. Repeat the last 2 rnds 5 more times — 48 sts.
Work Dec rnd every rnd 5 times — 8 sts remain.
Break yarn, leaving a 15 cm tail. Thread the tail through the remaining sts, pull tight and fasten off on the wrong side.

Finishing

Weave in all ends on the wrong side.
Wet block over a balloon or a hat form at your head size; let dry completely before wearing.

Cat in duplicate stitch

After blocking, embroider the cat with the motif colour over the plain stockinette, one duplicate stitch over each marked stitch.

Cat (duplicate stitch, motif colour): rounds 16–37, stitches 41–56. Count rounds from the cast-on edge (rib rounds included) and stitches from the beginning-of-round marker, which sits at the centre back; the cat is centred on the front. Viewed from the outside, the chart's right-hand column is stitch 41 and its bottom row is round 16.

Materials

Main colour (Oat): about 115 m
Motif colour (Deep indigo): about 10 m for 205 duplicate stitches
Yarn that gives the gauge above (typically DK / light worsted), circular needle 40 cm for the body plus a one size smaller for the rib, double-pointed needles or long circular for the crown, stitch markers, blunt yarn needle

Yarn amounts are estimates from our yarn model (stitch length 4.1 × stitch width, duplicate stitch 1.25 × a knitted stitch, ends and 10% reserve), not weighed from a made sample. Weigh a swatch for your own yarn.

Approximate time: about 4.9–10.1 hours of stitching: 5,064 stitches at 10–20 stitches per minute; 205 duplicate stitches at 2–5 per minute. Every pace above is an assumed range, not a timed sample; enter your own pace to replace the main one. Finishing (seams, weaving in ends, blocking) is not included.

Stitch totals: 4,968 knitted stitches in 59 rounds, 96 cast on, 205 duplicate stitches.

✓ 96 sts divide by the 4-stitch rib repeat
✓ Finished circumference 48.0 cm: 4–9% negative ease for a 50–53 cm head (supported window 3–12%)
✓ 29 plain rounds above the set-up rounds (at least 2)
✓ Crown: 8 sections of 12 sts, 17 rounds, ending with 8 sts
✓ Crown decreases change to every round at no more than half the stitches
✓ Total height 21.1 cm for a 21 cm target (within 0.6 cm)
✓ The written hat instructions, read on their own, rebuild all 59 rounds (3 printed counts checked, 0 unread sentences)
✓ The cat sits on plain stockinette rounds 16–37: 4 clear rounds above the rib, 5 below the crown decreases

Questions about this project

Why is the cat not knitted in Fair Isle?

The solid silhouette would leave long floats behind its body. Duplicate stitch keeps exactly the same chart without changing its shape to suit float limits.

Why are there only four sizes?

They are the head ranges for which the hat engine finds a whole-stitch rib, an even crown and 3–12% negative ease at the design gauge, with room for the cat. Other sizes and gauges are shown as errors, not approximated.

Terms and next steps

k = knit; p = purl; sc = US single crochet; MC = main colour; CC = contrast colour. A number after a stitch abbreviation is the number of stitches to work. Read repeat instructions as written.

Abbreviation references: Craft Yarn Council knitting terms · Craft Yarn Council crochet terms and US/UK comparison.

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