You’re so close to finishing your hat, I can smell it.  (Or maybe that’s the spiced apple cider heating up on my stove…mmm, I love fall.) In fact, you are totally done with your knitting, and all that’s left is to do your finishing.  In this case, that means sewing up the seam along the back of the hat, so that it ends up… well… hat-shaped.

Start out by cutting your working yarn, leaving a good 18-inch tail on your project.  Thread this tail onto your tapestry needle.

Then, turn your hat over, so that you can see the purl side facing up.  Carefully use your tapestry needle to thread your tail from the left, through  the 8 remaining stitches.

Once you have your last stitches safely contained on your tail, you can remove your knitting needle (So long, knitting needle!) and pull the tail snug.  This makes a nice little rosette-dealy at the top of your hat. See?

Now, sew the two edges of your knitting together, using your yarn tail.  I like to use a mattress stitch, but feel free to use whatever you are most comfortable with (whip stitch will also work well).  Try to make your seam as neat as possible, but don’t worry too much (since the seam is worked with the same yarn as the rest of the hat, even messy stitching won’t show up too much).

When you’ve finished sewing up the hat, it should look like this.  Very hat-like.  (Hattish? Hat-esque?)

See how you still have those two pesky ends?  We have to do something with them (unless you like big hunks of yarn hanging down off your hat, I suppose).  So, turn your hat inside-out.  See the seam allowance that you made by sewing the two sides of your hat together?  Sew your yarn up through that for a couple inches.  (Throw in a knot or a securing stitch, if you want.) Then, cut your tails, leaving a 1-2 inches dangling inside the hat.

And that’s it!  You’re done!  You have a great knitted cap!  Congratulations!

If you have questions, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to help!