Come Home Hood: Hand Knitting Pattern
The Come Home Hood, knit in a fingering weight yarn, is a light and layerable piece, with wear potential in any season, not just the cold of winter. A drop stitch technique is used in order to create a 2x1 faux rib that lends itself to drape, stretch for bigger hairstyles, and versatile breathability. Knit in a merino such as the sample, you have a sturdier piece for colder months; knit in two strands of mohair held together you have a breezy, dreamy piece good for spring or fall; knit in a cotton or a linen and you have just what you need for those cooler summer evenings.
The hood is made in three sections: the Neck (which is knit in-the-round); the Back & Sides; and the Top (the last two sections are knit flat). After the Main Body of the Hood is finished being knit up, you’ll seam the Top to the Back & Sides section to create the hole for your face. After seaming, you pick up stitches around the face-hole and knit a folded over hem that you’ll thread an I-cord through, which is labeled in the pattern as the Drawstring Hem.
I knit my sample using less than one 100g skein of fingering weight 100% SW merino. I had approximately 14g leftover, or about 56 yds.
Though the sample I knit of the Come Home Hood features only one color, there are plenty of contrast color opportunities in this pattern. Both the neck hem and the drawstring hem can be knit in an alternative color to create a fun color outline moment. The I-cord drawstring can also be knit in a different color. This could be a good pattern to play with your scrap yarn, and I look forward to seeing your creative choices!
One last note on gauge: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually don’t think meeting gauge exactly for this pattern is all that crucial. The dropped stitch leaves a lot of room for blocking to be really powerful in the long run. The gauge swatch pattern below is less for measuring confidence, and more for practicing dropping stitches and ensuring trust that things won’t unravel. If you’re nervous about a pattern that relies entirely on dropped stitches, knitting the gauge swatch may help. If you choose to skip the gauge swatch, at least read through the directions. There are a couple of small but valuable tips there.
Needles: US size 6 (4 mm) circular needles, 16-24” cord
Gauge: 21 sts x 30 rows in 4” x 4” in drop stitch pattern (a dropped stitch counts as a stitch)
Gauge swatch directions:
Cast on 25 stitches.
Row 1: Sl1pwyif, purl to end, turn
Row 2: Sl1, k2, yo, k2tog, *k1, yo, k2tog* repeat between ** until last two stitches, k1, sl1, turn.
Row 3: Purl to end, turn
Row 4: Sl1, knit til last stitch, sl1, turn
Repeat rows 3 & 4 for 32 rows total, ending on a knit row.
Row 5: P1, *p2, drop next stitch on left needle, yo*, repeat between ** until last three stitches, p3, turn.
Row 6: Bind off all stitches (the yarn overs count as new stitches to be bound off like normal)
Pull at your swatch to ensure that the dropped stitches drop all the way down, creating ladders. Block your swatch gently. You want the ladders to be visible but not pulled taught.
Hood dimensions schematic.
Main Body of Hood:
Neck
Using a smooth waste yarn in a contrasting color, provisionally cast on 124 stitches. With your main yarn, knit 1 row into all provisionally cast on stitches, place marker for beginning of round, and join in the round.
Knit in the round for 2.5”
Using the same or similar sized needle, pick up all stitches from the provisionally cast on row and unravel the provisional cast on from the work. Fold your work so that the wrong sides are touching. Knit the stitches on the front needles and the back needle together all the way around to create a folded hem. You should be at the beginning of the round with 124 stitches on your US size 6 needles.
Set-up row: k2, yo, *k2tog, k1, yo* repeat between ** until last two stitches, yo, k2, yo. You should be at the beginning of the round with 126 sts.
Knit in the round until work measures 3” from the set-up row (or 4” total from the bottom of the folded hem)
Set-up row: K2, drop stitch, yo, k2, drop stitch, yo, k2, drop stitch, yo, knit to last 10 sts, drop stitch, yo, k2, drop stitch, yo, k2, drop stitch, yo, k2, drop stitch, yo.
Bind-off row: Bind off 8 sts, knit until 9 sts remain, bind off those last 9 sts.
Back & Sides
You will now, and for the rest of the pattern, be working flat instead of in the round.
Break yarn. With RS facing you, reattach yarn at working stitches. You should have 106 sts.
Row 1: Knit til one stitch remains, sl1, turn.
Row 2: Purl to end, turn.
*Row 3: Sl1, knit til one stitch remains, sl1
Row 4: Purl to end, turn.*
Repeat rows 3 & 4 until work measures 10” from bound off stitches or 14” total from bottom of folded hem, ending with a WS/purl row.
Set-up row (RS): Sl1, *k2, drop stitch, yo,* repeat between ** 12 more times (or 13 times total), k27 sts, *k2, drop stitch, yo,* repeat between ** 12 more times (or 13 times total), k2, sl1, turn.
Bind-off row (WS): Bind off 39 sts, p30 sts, bind off remaining sts.
Break yarn.
Top
With RS facing you, reattach yarn at working stitches. You should have 31 sts.
Row 1: Knit til one stitch remains, sl1, turn.
Row 2: Purl to end, turn.
*Row 3: Sl1, knit til one stitch remains, sl1, turn.
Row 4: Purl to end, turn.*
Repeat rows 3 & 4 until work measures 7” from bound off stitches or 21” total from bottom of folded hem, ending with a WS/purl row.
Set-up row: Sl1, *k2, drop stitch, yo,* repeat between ** 8 more times (or 9 times total), k2, sl1, turn
Bind off all stitches.
If you haven’t already, tug gently at your fabric to pull all of those dropped stitches out.
Assembly:
Blocking at this point isn’t absolutely necessary—you can wait until you’ve finished the hood entirely—but I do highly recommend it. Blocking helps the edges settle into their true length, which in turn makes seaming easier and more uniform.
Refer to the schematic. Using a mattress stitch, seam edge A to side B and edge C to side D.
Drawstring Hem:
Here you’ll pick up stitches, starting in the middle of the bound off top edge of the Neck section, up the right edge of the Back & Side section, across the the Top section, down the left side of the Back & Side section, and ending on the remaining bound off stitches of the Neck section. Directions here, such as right and left, are as worn. The right side is the right side when worn, not when it is facing you.
Starting in the middle of the bound off stitches of neck and using your US 6 needle, pick up 8 sts. Using the slipped stitch edge of the right side of the Back & Side section, pick up 44 sts. Pick up 30 sts along the top edge. Using the slipped stitch edge of the left side of the Back & Side section, pick up 44 sts. Pick up 8 sts from the other side of the bound off stitches of the neck.
You should have 134 sts on your needle. Place marker to indicate the beginning of the round.
The stitch count in this section doesn’t have to be exact. If your knitting tension means you ended up knitting more rows than I did to achieve length, then pick up evenly throughout and don’t worry so much on being exact. The only thing that really matters here is that your beginning of the round is in the middle of the bottom of the face-hole (or the bound off stitches of the Neck section) and that your stitches line up as evenly as possible with the fabric you're picking up from. Too few stitches will create weird bunching, too many will make the drawstring hem flare out weirdly.
Knit all sts for 4 rows.
Row 5: k3, yo, k2tog, knit till five sts remain, ssk, yo, k3.
Continue knitting all sts until drawstring hem measures 2.5”. Fold so that the WS is touching. Knit the live sts together with the edge that you picked up stitches from, and bind them off at the same time. Try to do this as loosely as you can. A tight bind off here will scrunch the fabric and you will lose some of the intended drape.
I-cord and final steps:
Cast on 3 sts. Work an I-cord for approximately 40”. Bind off. Weave in all ends, including the ones on the hood itself. Thread the I-cord through one hole on the drawstring hem, through the hem, and back out through the other hole.
And there you have it!
A cutie little hood for all of your hoodless sweatshirts, jackets, sweaters, etc.
I’d love to see what you make if you feel like sharing! Tag me on instagram or tiktok @comehome.studio or email me at nmstarkweather@gmail.com. Use this same email if you need pattern support or have any questions.
If you want to make batches of these and sell them for a profit, I think that’s a great idea and you totally should! You have my full permission to make small scale commissions of my designs, but you may not sell or reproduce this pattern or commercially manufacture any garment made from it.
