This hat is posted free in celebration of the Warm Hats Not Hot Heads project. If you would be so kind as to click the link and learn a bit about the project should you decide to download it, I would be so appreciative!

Note: Two versions, one using Noro Cash Island and one using Noro Silk Garden, worked in different gauges. Both use US#6 needles.

I have to admit it. Even though I haven’t knit one, those striped ribby scarves knit out of a long color repeat yarn like Noro enchant me with their waves of undulating color and sometimes surprising juxtaposition of hues. But five feet of 1x1 ribbing isn’t my thing. Twenty inches, however, in a narrower band - definitely something I could wrap my brain around.

Or more accurately, something I could wrap around my brain, in the form of a self-striping hat. With a decorative cast on to establish the striping right off, a band of 1x1 ribbing forms the brim of a quick to work but satisfyingly clever hat.

The ribbing, worked in alternating colorways 2 rows at a time, is stitched closed and trimmed with buttons or decorative closures of your choice. The crown of the hat is picked up along the edge of the brim. Knitter’s choice as to whether to continue with the striped theme and knit with both colorways in a spiral to the center or to opt for a single yarn used to the finish. Width of brim can also be varied as one chooses.