This jaunty cap is dated from 1600 and the original is made of silk and gold-wrapped silk thread. The double diamonds arrayed on the gold background intrigued me, and when a friend asked for a hat, I thought this would be a good project. It is very striking, with double diamonds diapered (couldn’t resist the alliteration) over the body of the cap and stripes at the very crown.

The hat is worked in the round, starting at the brim and working to the crown. The model is worked in a dense wool fingering weight yarn, but would look absolutely lovely in an equivalent silk yarn. Museums show them in black and gold, and red and gold. The original hat that inspired this pattern can be found at http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/formats/accessoires/index.jsp?l... . Small (US size 00) needles create the stitch density needed to create the proper fabric for this hat.

The pattern has written directions and uses charts for the color-work.