While travelling in winter, I sat on a plane behind a girl wearing a really great hat that looked hand-knitted. It was a slightly tall/slouchy hat, not too bulky, with a rolled brim and alternating bands of knit and purl. On the purl bands, there was a cool stitch motif that I then spent about a year, off and on, trying to reverse-engineer. Eventually I settled on this 3-strand butterfly stitch. This ISN’T the stitch that was on her magical hat; I have officially given up trying to figure that out. But the butterfly stitch looks pretty nifty – maybe, just possibly, even better than the original. As a bonus, it’s incredibly easy to do and memorize!

Materials: worsted weight yarn wool or acrylic yarn (I used Cascade 220)
Needles to get gauge (size 6 or 7/4 to 5 mm); circular or DPN
Tapestry/yarn needle

Gauge: 4.5 st/in to fit average woman’s head; slightly looser gauge will yield a slightly larger hat.