Knitted over the winter solstice, these stitches seem to hold all the hope and mystery of that dark passage where we celebrate the return of the light. This year’s winter solstice packed an extra punch, with current events trying to drag us down into despair; our deliberate choice to look toward the light slingshots us forward with greater force than ever before. In a turbulent and terrible year, I have met more people shining more brightly than I ever thought possible. In the midst of hopeless-seeming events, I am filled with hope.

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.”
― Susan Cooper

This is another absolutely gorgeous pattern! This one was a less stressful knit than Azula, because it didn’t require as much counting and it was easier to find where I left off. It’s still a very good idea to make note of the row number when you set it down, however.

I again used a three-needle bind off instead of grafting. Call me lazy, but it’s nearly invisible and so much faster.

Added a pompom because I love them!

I used Åsa’s winding provisional cast on instead of the one in the pattern, because it works so very well and it requires almost no thought. I used a US1 needle as the second needle for the provisional, so it’s nice and tight without any gap or slack.

This hat fits me nicely--not tight, not loose--and my head measures 23”. I get gauge with this yarn/needle combo, so I would definitely go down a needle size to knit this hat for most women. I’d like to try it in lighter weight yarn on smaller needles for a child size.

Color choices: I found with this one as well as Azula that less contrast is better. Opal is more forgiving, I think, and stands up especially well to screaming color contrast; but to my eye, a lower value contrast really shows off these beautiful short rows best. (In all but the first photo, my camera is picking up too much contrast between the two colors.)