Long stocking caps might not be common, but they are fun and whimsical. Most stocking cap patterns space the decrease points evenly around the cap, but a few months ago, I had the thought of handling the decreases a little differently.

This stocking cap has most of the decreases running in a straight line up the back. Since there are no other obvious decrease lines, I was free to run a cable braid up the front. Towards the top of the cap, there are occasional decreases on the front, but those are there just to keep the field for the narrowing cable pattern from being too wide for the point of the hat.

The hat is made in the round, with worsted weight yarn, and on size 5 and 7 needles. While the instructions for the hat are written, the instructions for the cables are given in charts. The finished hat is about 28 inches long and fits an adult-size head.