This hat pattern is inspired by photos of ancient Roman tiles, some of which look quite modern in spite of being 2000 years old.

I made one sample with 96 stitches, and cast on 120 stitches for the other. The first one is 20 inches in circumference and easily fits my 23-inch head. The second one is larger, fitting about 22 inches to 24 or 25 comfortably.

Although the pattern calls for stranded knitting, the hat comes together very quickly and can easily be finished in two evenings of knitting.

I knitted a third sample hat, using the pattern for a bright red and gold border, and then knit the rest of the hat in a rather bright plain blue. Changing the color changes the look of the pattern dramatically.

I used about 35 grams of yarn from two different colored skeins, a total of about 70 grams. I dyed about 10 grams of one skein for each hat to make the center row of the design.