Sunrise Seaswim Hat

Is there a better way to celebrate Esther's 30th Birthday than taking a dip in the North Devon sea as the sun makes it's first appearance of the day?  Well yes it turns out there is; knitting a hat ready for when your little hot water bottle (I mean bump) makes it's first appearance of the day whilst everyone else goes in for their second dip of the day!  A simple repetative pattern keeps you on your toes but can easily be done alongside other distractions.  And the use of two yarns makes it that little bit thicker and warmer for an approaching winter baby.

The pattern is to fit a small newborn or larger preemi.  To make suitable for a larger newborn cast on an additional 7 stitches and depending on your guage use 4.5mm needles, continuing for 4 1/2 - 5 inches before decreasing

Using DK yarn and 4mm needles...

Cast on 56 stitches in contrast colour [CC] and join into round (14 on each needle if using DPNs)

Rounds 1-4: K2 P2 rib
Round 5: change to main colour [MC] and K2TOG, K5 ** K1[CC], K6[MC] repeat from ** to end and using first stitch of next round as final stitch for this pattern
Rounds 6 onwards: K5[MC] P1[MC] K1[CC] repeat to end and using first stitch of next round for the next 4 inches (you are purling on the contrast stitch of the row below, then adding in a constrast knit stitch nextdoor to that - this is the main pattern)

Depending how many rows you do will depend where you are in the spiral pattern when you start the decreasing.

Round 29ish: Knit as pattern until first [CC] where it is K2TOG.  Then repeat K4[MC] P1 [MC] K2TOG [CC] to end.
Round 30: Knit as pattern but K4[MC] P1[MC] K1[CC]
repeat these two rounds three more times (with one less main colour knit stitch after each decrease obviously).
Using just [MC] K2TOG to end and thread yarn through remaining 8 stitches.

And voila!  You might need to give a good tug from side to side to even out the coloured raised stitches.