Entrelac cap

I promised to write out the pattern for the entrelac cap/beret, so here comes. If you want a less slouchy cap, leave out one repeat of the 7-stitch squares. I've included instructions for making an Excel spreadsheet that will do the calculations for you. I highly recommend doing that, it will make your life a lot easier! You won't have to worry about finding the same yarn or getting gauge. I actually haven't even specified my gauge. I used a DK weight yarn and 3.5 mm needles.

Here's a couple more pictures of my cap:

Modeled by the wire basket.

Laying flat on the table.

Here you can really see how neat that tubular cast on edge is. This is one technique that is really worth learning, if you don't know how to do it yet!

The Entrelac Cap

By Lotta Breyer

*These instructions are written using centimeters, but you can easily substitute inches, it will not change how you do your measurements.

** At the end, you will find instructions for how to do your calculations in Excel. Enter the measured values and the formulas into your spreadsheet, and the rest of the numbers will be automatically calculated.

Knit a swatch! This is very important, since I can’t possibly tell you how many stitches you will need, unless you knit a test swatch. It can be any size, but a bigger swatch gives you a better measurement. You can knit the swatch in stockinette stitch. Measure your stitch and row gauge.

Measure your head circumference in cm. Calculate the amount of stitches needed: (HeadCirc/10)*gauge, for example, (56/10)*22=123.2. Round this down to an even number, such as 122 or 120.

The cap is knitted using tubular cast on. Start by casting half the amount of your calculated stitches (e.g. 60) using provisional cast on¹. Join in the round and knit 2 rounds. This seems like not enough stitches, but you’ll just have to trust your measurements. On the third round start picking up the stitches from the provisional cast on while undoing the waste yarn at the same time. Purl the first stitch from your needle. Knit the first stitch from your cast on. Purl the next stitch off the needle, knit the next one from the cast on. Continue in this manner until all the stitches are used. You should now have your calculated amount of stitches on your needle. Knit in k1p1 for 8 rounds.

Start the entrelac. The entrelac squares are 7 stitches wide (you can also use 8 or 9, if it better suits your stitch count). Calculate the closest number to your stitch count that is divisible by the size of the squares. (e.g. 120/7=17.1, so I could use 119=17*7 or 126=18*7; 120/8=15, which matches perfectly.) If you need to change the amount of stitches, knit one more round of rib and increase by the needed amount.

Start entrelac by knitting a row of triangles: K2, turn, P2 (or knit left to right), turn, S1 K2, turn, S1 P2, turn, S1 K3, turn… until you have used up 7 (or 8 or 9) stitches, and start the next triangle. Make as many triangles as it takes to finish the round. The direction of the rows of entrelac squares alternates between clock- and counterclockwise, the first round of triangles being clockwise. Because the first square of a row is attached to the first and last square of the previous row, this still results in a tubular piece of fabric.

To start the second round or entrelac, pick up 7 stitches from the side of the first triangle and knit them. Turn, S1 P5 P2tog, turn, S1 K6, S1 P5 P2tog etc. until you have used up all the stitches on the side of the square. Pick up the stitches for the next square and knit similarly. Continue to the end of the round.

The next round will be worked clockwise again. Pick up 7 stitches from the side of the 1^st square of the last round and purl across them on the wrong side. Turn, S1 K5 SSK, turn, S1 P6, turn, S1 K5 SSK… continue until all the side stitches are used up. Pick up the stitches for the next square and knit similarly. Continue to the end of the round.

Knit 4 repeats/rounds of 7-stitch squares. On the 5^th and 6^th entrelac round, only pick up 6 stitches from the side of each square. On the 7^th round, pick up 5. 8^th round 4.

After the round of 4-stitch squares knit a row of triangles again. Pick up 4 stitches and knit them. Turn, S1 P2 P2tog, turn, S1 K2, turn, S1 P1 P2tog, turn, S1 K1, turn, S1 P3tog,. Continue in the same manner to the end of the round.

Top decreases:

Count the amount of stitches you have, e.g. 18*4=72. Using the Excel stitch calculator, calculate your decreases, for example every row in 5 places. Decrease until you have 4 or 5 stitches left. Put all stitches on one DP needle and knit an inch of I-cord.² Pull yarn through remaining stitches and weave in ends.

¹Provisional cast on: Take a length of waste yarn and make a slip knot with your knitting yarn. Cast on stitches like you would with long tail, the waste yarn being the tail. The waste yarn can later be removed to reveal a row of live stitches.

²I-cord: place all stitches on one DP needle and knit across. Push the stitches to the other end of the needle, bring the yarn around and knit across again. Repeat until desired length.

Copyright Lotta Breyer 2007.

You may copy and use this pattern for your own personal use, but, please, don’t sell, distribute, or copy it for others without my permission.

Excel calculation:

Your spreadsheet should look something like this:

Enter numbers into yellow cells. The rest will be calculated automatically.
Measure:	Head circ.	56	cm
Swatch:	Stitches:	21	s per	7.5	cm
	Rows:	24	r per	7.5	cm
Gauge:	Stitches:	28	s/10 cm
	Rows:	32	r/10 cm
Cast on:	Head circ.	117	stitches
	Cast on:	58	stitches
Entrelac:	size of entr square	7	s
	number of squares:	18
	Stitches for entrelac:	126
	Add:	9	stitches
	add 1s every	13	stitches
	Entrelac rows with full size square	4
Top decreases:	Number of stitches:	72	s
	First decrease	2	s
	Number of rows left:	13	r
	Decreases per row:	5	dec
	stitches btw decr on first row	12	s ->	K	12	, K2tog

Here is what you need to type in into the cells to make your own spreadsheet. If you start at the corner of a spreadsheet, your column for calculations will be C. The First cell with a number is C3. That is where I have the number 56 above for head circumference.

EDIT: The contents of cell C9 have been changed below. Simplyducky was paying attention and found a mistake -the reference that was there before was for the unadjusted row gauge. Thank you!

Enter into cells:

C3 enter your measured head circumference

C4 enter counted stitches from swatch, E4 enter width of the area of the swatch you counted the stitches from

C5 enter counted rows from swatch, E5 enter total height of the counted rows

C6 enter =C4/E4*10

C7 enter =C5/E5*10

C8 blank

C9 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C6*C3/10,0)

C10 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C9/2,0)

C11 blank

C12 enter size of entrelac square (7)

C13 enter =EVEN(C9/C12)

C14 enter =C13*C12

C15 enter =C14-C9

C16 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C9/C15, 0)

C17 enter =4-(C12-7)

C18 blank

C19 enter =C13*4

C20 enter =C19-(C22*(C23+2))

C21 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C19/6.28*C7/C6,0)

C22 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C19/C21,0)

C23 enter =ROUNDDOWN(C19/C22,0)-2 and E23 enter =C23

And if entering all that stuff is just too much work, you can always e-mail me and ask me to send the spreadsheet as an attachment. :)