How to Knit a Top Tassel

Finish a knitted hat with a tassel on top.

There are several options available to create a tassel for the top of your knitted hat — chain-stitched crochet, braided yarn, leaving strands of yarn soft and loose, or using different materials to change the texture from that of the hat itself. To continue the same texture as the body of your hat, however, your best option is to switch to a knitting spool, also known as a French knitter. It uses the same techniques to make tubes as long as you want.

Things You'll Need

• Leftover yarn
• Knitting spool with hook
• Scissors
• Tapestry needle

Instructions

1. Thread the free end of the yarn down the hole in the middle of the knitting spool. Weight the end or hold it to provide resistance as you work the yarn above it.

2. Wrap the yarn leading to the skein or ball around the pegs of the spool. For the typically narrowest finished tube, wrap all the way around each of four pegs. Wrap each peg in one direction, crossing the yarn over itself to move to the next peg in the other direction.

3. Wrap the yarn again around the first peg. Using a crochet hook, the tip of a knitting needle, or the tool that may have been provided with the knitting spool, lift the first loop out, up and over the new loop and the peg, and let it drop into the middle of the spool.

4. Continue around the spool, wrapping pegs and dropping loops from the preceding round into the middle. Maintain a gentle tension on the tube as it begins to emerge from the bottom of the spool.

5. Work one long tube, or stop at twice the length you want for each strand of the tassel. Cut the yarn with enough length to go around the spool once more. Thread it on the tapestry needle and run it through the remaining loops on the pegs. Draw the thread tight and tie a knot.

6. Loop one long knitted tube back and forth to make a tassel of loops. Wrap one end several times with unworked yarn and tie it off. Run another short length of yarn through the short loop extending from the wrapping. Pull both ends through the fabric at the top of the hat, and tie the ends together securely.

7. Tie several shorter knitted tubes together with yarn at their middles. Fold them over and wrap the outside with yarn. Trim the yarn ends of the tubes to your taste, and sew the tassel to the top of the hat.