Finishing up the hat

So once you've completed all the decreasing rows you should end up with just 7 stitches on your needle.

Next you're going to snip your yarn leaving about 20" or so.  You'll use this to sew through the "live" 7 stitches on the knitting needle and stitch the sides of the hat together.

I have this nice long plastic needle I use.  You can buy them short too.

thread your 20" tail into your needle and you're going to run it through the 7 live stitches on the knitting needle.  See how my plastic needle is pointing the same direction as the knitting needle???  If you do it the other direction the live stitches will come undone....You're doing this to bring it around into a small circle at the top for the crown.

Pull the plastic needle all the way through to the right and then pull the knitting needle out.

Next you use the plastic needle to stitch the sides together.  The idea is to do this so that you can't see it.  So with the right side facing out overlap your sides.  If you sew right down the middle of the little "V"s that you get when you knit your sewing stitch won't show....

 This is what you're going for...check as you go that you're keeping it lined up at the bottom.

Next I'll show you how I added that little crochet trim.....It's a fun little detail to make it a little more girly.  At this point the hat is done and could really be finished if you want!  I also used my yarn to sew a flower on the first one I made.  I'm thinking I might do something different on these...haven't decided yet!