You ‘octopi’ my thoughts (octopus hat)

My sister wanted an octopus hat, so I created her one!

As you can see, this carnivorous octopus has only left a skull behind…

Materials
-4mm circular needles
-4mm double-pointed needles
-Stitch marker
-Main colour yarn (100g DK, shown here in King Cole Riot DK, colour way ‘Cool’)
-Contrast colour yarn (about 20g DK, shown here in some unlabeled light yellow)
-Tapestry/yarn needle for seaming
-Small amount of stuffing for eyeballs and octopus body

Abbreviations
St(s) = Stitch(es)
CO = Cast on
K = knit
P = purl
Inc = Increase by your preferred method
K2tog = Knit 2 stitches together
P2tog = Purl 2 stitches together
MB = Make Bobble – K stitch in contrast colour, turn, increase st to 3 sts, turn, K3tog, slide back onto left needle, K in main colour

Pattern notes
The hat, tentacles and ‘body’ is worked in seed stitch. This is a stitch where there first row is worked as K1P1, the following row is worked as P1K1, essentially you K your P stitches and P your K stitches to create a tightly woven reversible bumpy fabric. (Google it for tutorials etc)

Throughout the pattern you will have to increase and decrease the number of stitches. Try to increase/decrease in the K1P1 pattern as best you can – you will end up with two K/P sts next to each other, but that fine, in the next increase/decrease you will be back to K1P1 the whole way round.

Gauge
6sts by 6 rows per inch in seed stitch

Tentacles (top side) make 8
For the tentacles, you work each tentacle flat and then cut the yarn at the end and leave sts on a spare needle to be used for the bottom edge of the hat.

CO3sts in main colour and work in seed stitch
1-4 – seed stitch
5 – Inc 1 at at beginning of row, keeping pattern correct, continue in seed stitch (4sts)
6-12 – seed stitch
13 – As row 5 (5sts)
14-24 – seed stitch
25 – As row 5 (6sts)
26-40 – seed stitch
41 – As row 5 (7sts)
42-60 – seed stitch
61 – As row 5 (8sts)
62-86 – seed stitch

Tentacles (bottom side) make 8
For these tentacles, you work each tentacle flat and then BO the yarn at the end. You can chose to knit these pieces separate to the main colour tentacles and sew them together at the end, as I have, or work the two pieces together using intersia to change colours. Up to you guys!

CO3sts in contrast colour, work in stockinette stitch (K row followed by P row) starting with a K row.
1-2 – stockinette
3 – K1, MB, K1
4 – P row
5 – Inc 1 at at beginning of row, K to end (4sts)
6 – P row
7 – K2, MB, K1
8-10- stockinette
11 – K2, MB, K1
12 – P row
13 – As row 5 (5sts)
14 – P row
15 – K1, MB, K1, MB, K1
16-18 – stockinette
Repeat last 4 rows once more
23 – K1, MB, K1, MB, K1
24 – P row
25 – As row 5 (6sts)
26 – P row
27 – K1, MB, K2, MB, K1
28-30 – stockinette
Repeat last four rows 2 more times
39 – K1, MB, K2, MB, K1
40 – purl
41 – As row 5 (7sts)
42 – K1, MB, K3, MB, K1
43-46 – stockinette
Repeat last four rows 3 more times
59 – 42 – K1, MB, K3, MB, K1
60 – P row
61 – As row 5 (8sts)
62 – P row
63 – K1, MB, K4, MB, K1
64-66 – stockinette
Repeat last four rows 5 more times (86 rows in total)
BO all sts

Hat
In main colour, CO 39sts, working in seed stitch, work across the 8 sts on each of the 8 tentacles (64sts) that were left on the spare needle. Join in the round, careful not to twist sts. 103sts.
Work in seed stitch until work measures 5cm from the CO edge.
Decrease 2 sts evenly across hat (I decreased sts 1&2, 52&53) to give 101 sts.
Now decrease for the crown:
Dec row: *work 8 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (91sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 7 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (81sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 6 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (71sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 5 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (61sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 4 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (51sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 3 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (41sts)
Work 2 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 2 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (31sts)
Work 1 rows seed stitch.
Dec row: *work 1 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (21sts)
Dec row: *K/P2tog* to last at, K/P1. (11sts)
Cut yarn and thread through remaining sts.

‘Body’
In main colour, CO 71sts, join in the round careful not to twist sts.
1 – K 1 row
2 – *K6, inc1* to last st, K/P1. (81sts)
3-8 – work in seed stitch
9 – *work 7 sts in seed st, inc1* to last st, K/P1. (91sts)
10-20 – work in seed stitch
21 *work 7 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (81sts)
22-25 – work in seed stitch
26 – *work 6 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (71sts)
27-30 – Work in seed stitch
31 – *work 5 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (61sts)
32-35 – Work in seed stitch
36 – *work 4 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (51sts)
37-38 – Work inseed stitch
39 – *work 3 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (41sts)
40-41 – Work in seed stitch.
42 – *work 2 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (31sts)
43 – Work in seed stitch.
44 – *work 1 sts in seed st, K/P2tog* to last st, K/P1. (21sts)
45 – Work in seed stitch.
46 – *K/P2tog* to last at, K/P1. (11sts)
Cut yarn and thread through remaining sts.

Eyeballs (make 2)
In contrast colour, CO3 sts and divide across 3 dpns, work in the round.
1 – Inc every st (6sts)
2 – K
3 – *Inc1, K1* to end (9sts)
4-6 – K
Stuff eyeball lightly
7 – *K1, K2tog* to end (6sts)
8 – *K2tog* to end (3sts)

Eyelids (make 2)
In main colour, CO12sts and work flat.
1-10 – work in seed stitch.
BO all sts.

Assembly
Sew tentacle bottom sides underneath the tentacle top sides (see photo), making sure to pull thread tight to encourage the tentacles to curl.
Sew octopus body onto the back of the hat, I lined up the CO edge of the body at the start of the decreases, then pulled and tacked a few of the body sts onto the top of the crown to emphasise the bulb like shape. Stuff very lightly, again to emphasis it’s shape.
Attach eyeballs to hat (use photo as a guide) then partially cover these with the eyelids (again see photo).

Wear and enjoy!