Gussetted Helmet Liner Ellen M.

Silva
This helmet liner pattern is based heavily on the several patterns that are available for knitting these invaluable items for our troops. Versions for knit or crochet can be found at http://www.geocities.com/helmetliner/ where you will also nd instructions for mailing in your donations. The existing patterns are ne patterns, but I have made a few changes which I believe improve the t and function. And though they look ddly-er, I actually nd this pattern easier to knit. I dont have to constantly check where I am placing my decreases or struggle to make them symmetrical. The earlier patterns give instructions to decrease either vaguely (4 locations around the face) or specically in ways that make it hard to have a coherent design; i.e. specifying decreases at the 2:00, 4:00, 8:00 and 10:00 positions, but you end up with purls at 2 and 8 and knits at 4 and 10. Whats an obsessive compulsive knitter to do? Rewrite the pattern, of course! Here it is, with a neck stand of sorts added and gussets added off the sides of the neckstand to allow for a nice panel of decreases on the sides of the face opening and a smooth t. Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, 1 skein. Note: only 100% soft wool yarn is accepted in the program. Colors are restricted to black, charcoal, brown, or olive drab. 16 Size 8 (US) circular needle 16 Size 6 (US) circular needle Size 8 double pointed needles Stitch Markers Tapestry needle for weaving in ends. Gauge: 4.5 stitches per inch in stockinette. Row gauge is not critical.

Neck ribbing: With smaller circular needle, cast on 84 stitches. Place marker and join, being careful to avoid twisting your work. Knit in a 2x2 rib (k2, p2, repeat) for 7, ending with a p2 (if you started with k2 immediately after your marker, you will end with p2). Remove marker. Neckstand: Turn work. Switch to larger circular needle. The neckstand is a small section of stockinette stitch worked back and forth so as to create sides to the face opening. Note that though you are using a circular needle, you arent knitting in the round, yet. Row 1: Purl across 38 stitches. Turn work. Leave the smaller needle in place as a holder for the remaining stitches. Row 2: Knit 38 stitches. Repeat rows 1-2 two more times, for a total of 6 rows in the neckstand. You are currently on the right side of the helmet liner, having just nished a knit row of the neckstand. You are on the left edge of the face opening, as worn. Crown: With a scrap of smooth waste yarn, do a provisional cast-on of 53 stitches. You will want to cast these onto the left end of the needle; i.e. so that you are prepared to knit into them from the right hand needle. Place marker. Knit across the cast on stitches, then continue knitting onto the stitches previously worked for the neckstand. You are knitting in the round again, this time in stockinette stitch. (Did you remember to switch to larger needles? If not, do so now. It is ok to knit the neckstand in the smaller gauge.) Continue knitting in the round for 4. At end of round, begin decreases. Row 1 of decreases: *k11, k2tog* repeat to end of round (a total of 7 decreases). Row 2 of decreases: knit around even. Row 3: *k10, k2tog* repeat 6 times. Row 4: knit even. Continue in this manner, decreasing 7 times evenly spaced every other round, until you have 21 stitches left. Take care to line up your decreases (every 11 stitches 1st round, every 10 second, every 9 third and so on) to get a nice pattern on the crown. If it helps you to add a stitch marker right after each decrease location so you are reminded to decrease the two stitches before it, every other round, go for it. When you get to the point where you have just done a round of *k2 k2tog*, begin decreasing every round. After two more rounds you will be down to 7 stitches. Break your yarn and draw your loose end through all the remaining stitches, cinching it into a tight join. Weave end in. Face ribbing:

Remove the provisional cast-on, placing the liberated stitches onto the larger needle. You should end up with 54 stitches on that needle; if you are short, pick one up in either corner. Starting at the lower right corner of the face opening, as worn, and using the smaller needle (still holding the remaining live neck ribbing stitches) pick up and knit 6 stitches along the side of the neckstand. I pick up one in each corner and 4 evenly spaced along the edge, which helps prevent gaps, but pick them up as it suits you. Continue onto the stitches being held on the larger needle, starting a 2x2 rib beginning with a k2. Rib across the top of the face opening, and when you get to the left side of the neckstand (as worn), you should have just nished k2. Pick up and knit 6 stitches along the left side. Knit two more stitches and place marker - this is the beginning of your ribbing round. You now have the face ribbing set up. Along the bottom and top edges, you have 2x2 ribbing, and along the sides you have all knit stitches. Counting the ribs that begin and end the top and bottom edges, you should have 10 knit stitches along each side of the face opening. This is the base of your gusset. You will continue in pattern around the face edging, decreasing the gussets by two stitches along their edges every other round, until you have reduced the gusset to two knit stitches. Do this as follows: Row 1: Continue in 2x2 rib across the bottom of the face opening until you reach the nal k2 rib (the start of the gusset). Place marker. SSK, k6, k2tog, knit across the top opening maintaining 2x2 ribbing until you reach the nal k2 rib (start of second gusset). Place marker. SSK, k6, k2tog. End of round. Row 2: As for Row 1, but when you reach the gussets, SSK, k4, k2tog. Row 3: Knit even in pattern, 2x2 ribbing across top and bottom, stockinette in gussets Row 4: As for Row 1, but when you reach the gussets, SSK, k2, k2tog. Row 5: As for row 3. Row 6: As for Row 1, but when you reach the gussets, SSK, k2tog. Row 7: As for row 3. Row 8: For this row, you will be decreasing the p2 ribs immediately before and after the gussets to 1 stitch. Knit in pattern to within 2 stitches of rst marker. Slip one stich kwise, slip next stitch kwise, put both back on left needle, and purl through the back of

the loops (SSPtbl). This creastes a left-leaning purl decrease. K2 across gusset, p2tog, and continue across top of opening in established pattern. When you get to the within 2 stitches of second gusset, SSPtbl, k2, p2tog. End of row. Row 9. Knit around completely in pattern. Bind off. A slick trick to make your end point invisible is to bind off the last stitch, break the yarn, pull the loose end through, and thread it onto a tapestry needle. Put the tip of the needle from right to left (wrong side to right side) through the two legs of the very rst stitch you bound off. Go back down through the last stitch you bound off, right at the same point from which you pulled the loose end. Weave ends in. Finishing: Weave in ends. Nice work. Acknowledgment to Bonnie Long for her original pattern, and the revised pattern created by Operation Helmetliner, which is available at http://www.citizensam.org. Mail nished helmet liners to: Citizen S.A.M. P.O. Box 10565 Peoria, IL 61602 copyright 2008, Ellen M. Silva all rights reserved. Copies may be made for personal use.