I am a huge Wes Anderson fan, and his movie The Life Aquatic: with Steve Zissou is one of my favorites. The first time I watched it, I yearned (get it yearned) to have a hat like his (for Jacques Cousteau buffs, I know it was his hat first). To tell you the truth, the only reason why I wanted to learn how to knit was to make a Zissou hat. And yes, I am a boy which doesn't mean that I am girly for whatever. Knitting is for everybody!!!

Step 1: Well You Gotta Know How to Knit

My mom taught me the basics and hopefully a parent, relative, or friend can teach you how to knit if you don't know how. I think there are Instructables on it so they can help. For me, the book Stitch and Bitch really helped me.
Furthermore, this Instructable is for people who know how to knit and has been knitting for some time. This project is really easy so a noob can easily do this.

Step 2: Yarn and Needles

I used size US 8 needles (or 5.0 mm) and some red acrylic yarn. You will also need a yarn needle. It's a little plastic needle.

Step 3: Casting on and Knitting

Ok here comes the fun part. If you have a big head like me, cast on about 70 stitches. But I recommend to cast on about 60-45 stitches. The knitting will cause the hat to stretch so don't really worry about it.

Knitting: I don't want to write the knitting jargon not only to confuse noobs but they confuse me too.

Knit one and purl one until the end of the row. That's it.
Then when you knit the other row make sure you knit the purled stitches and purl the knitted stitches.

Do this until the hat is about 5 to 6 inches long. Then remove the stitches by taking two off each end. You do this by taking two loops and knit (or purl) instead of one. So that when you are finished with that row, row X, will have 68 instead of 70 stitches.

Remove the stitches every four to five rows until the hat is about 8-9 inches complete. I wanted my hat to be a little short, like Zissou so I left it about 8 inches long.

Cast off the hat and you should have a hat that looks like a bell shape.

Step 4: Finishing the Hat.

First wrap the hat around your head to see your best fit. If it is too large, it's no big deal. You can overlap the edges and knit it. Alas, if it is too small, then you might want to start again.

With a yarn needle, stitch the hat together with you desired size. For me, it was a little too big so I just overlapped the layer and stitched it.

To get the pinch, push in two sides from the top of the hat and stitch them together inside.

Wear and enjoy, Zissou intern.