One of a quartet of hats knitted for Endsend’s birthday. (He reports back that he is very thrilled with them.) I never wear beanies, so this was a great way of getting to play with really cool patterns and not feel guilty about failing to wear them.

• Used the 1x1 Italian tubular cast on, modifying all k sts to ktbl sts.

• I was a little worried using a marled yarn with a stitch pattern, but the ply colors are close enough and the twisted ribbing a bold enough detail that it seems to be working ok. (Scaling up the gauge helps things along, making the twisted rib pop.) The effect is more subtle than dramatic. The marling works to even better effect on the reverse St st side!

• Officially the fastest hat I ever knit. Seriously.

• Superyak is really, really luscious to work with.