Cotton GENEie Pussyhat

I've finished knitting GENEie headbands for my boys so now I can make myself a new hat for the march in case the weather is warm.  April 22 (the date for the March for Science) can be really warm or really raw in Boston, so I wanted to give myself a cotton option of the GENEie Pussyhat.  (Make sure you check out my Ombre Broken Wilton Violet GENEie Pussyhat!)  A bunch of knitters decided to focus on using blue and green yarns (for Earth Day) for the March for Science.  I selected this teal because it was part of the March for Science logo and it is a color that I love.

I was knitting a smaller hat than the original GENEie Pussyhat knitting pattern like I did in my Ombre hat:

• Cable Round 1: Skip all of the M1 stitches in Cable Round 1 (staying at 100 sts). 
• All Cable Rounds will be as follows: K10, Knit 9 sts of Chart Row, K62 sts, Knit the 9 sts of Chart row, K10 (100 sts)

I really should have checked my gauge before starting this hat.  I was using size 6 needles and KnitPicks Comfy Worsted yarn (a cotton blend) in Marina.  I was not sure how loose it will be but I could have easily reduced the number of stitches this time.  Thankfully, the ombre GENEie Pussyhat had plenty of space for my head so I was fairly confident that it would fit.

The cotton feels really smooth against my skin.  I've never made myself a cotton hat before.  I really like the silky texture!

Grafting the top together.  The DNA helix cables don't quite meet at the top, but I'm okay with that.  I know some other people have changed where to start knitting the helix so they do meet at the top for one continuous strand of DNA running up and down the hat.  

I used a lot less yardage than I expected.  Ultimately this project used 58 g of yarn (127 yards).  I had purchased three 50 g balls of yarn for this project!  Thankfully I have ideas of other things to knit for the March for Science (including the GENEie Plasmid Headband which I completed after I was done with this hat.)

If you want to knit a GENEie Pussyhat flat, now you can use the chart from the GENEie Plasmid to help.  That DNA double helix cable is on a stockinette background and knit flat, so there are both RS and WS rows written out for the motif.

If a Pussyhat doesn't fit your personal style but you want to make a DNA hat, make sure you check out the rest of the GENEie Collection of DNA Thinking Caps.  There are hats and headbands with either colorwork DNA strands or cable double helices.  

I really love my GENEie designs.  I still want to make myself a slightly longer original GENEie (cable version) in green but that isn't urgent to start before the march.  I love seeing all of the pictures of your GENEies on Ravelry, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Please continue to share your pictures with me, it really makes my day!