I love vertical stripes. They’re so slimming (and I have a fat head). But knitting is not really built for vertical stripes. Horizontal stripes are easy, but vertical stripes generally require sideways construction (hard to shape a hat with) or stranded knitting (heavy, double thickness). But if the stripes are slipped every other row, the stranding is greatly reduced. This makes for a nice warm hat without getting overly bulky. If you enjoy this kind of construction, you may like the advanced version, with spiraling stripes.

You can make both hats with two balls of Juniper Moon Farms’ Willa. Willa is similar to a couple of my favorite yarns: the double-plied mix of wool and mohair just works well for sturdy, easy-to-work stitches. But no one does it as soft as Willa! How do they get the yarn so soft? Maybe it’s all the kid-mohair. Maybe they feed the sheep and goats nothing but cupcakes. Whatever they do, it makes for dreamy yarn.