A pretty cloche style hat with a turned back brim trimmed with a large bow in verticle placement over the right ear and side seam. This hat was inspired by the cloche hats worn by the women in Edward Hoppers paintings. The style looks more like a felted sculptured and shaped hat when worn than a knitted cap. However, it has the advantage of being able to be folded in half and stored flat so it would be ideal for travel and packing. It has a definite vintage 1920’s - 1930’s feel. It is thick and warm and looks beautiful with dressy winter coats. I have knitted the three samples in Baby Alpaca Grande Hand Dye but I think any bulky or chunky yarn will do. WE are testing other yarns now. ( APRIL 2016) There is also a red example on my project page.

Skills needed: Knitting and Purling, sewing seams, picking up and knitting stitches along selvedge edge, casting on and binding off.

The shape of the hat is achieved through the changing of needle sizes. You do need all the sizes of needles listed in order to achieve the correct shape and fit. I used 10” flat needles in all the sizes and an additional set of size 9 US needles in 15 “ length to pick up and knit and work the larger number of stitches for the crown. You could use a circular needle for this as well. And, of course you could knit the whole hat on circulars knitting back and forth instead of in a circle like you would on straight needles.
Do not panic about the sewing! It is very easy and gives the hat needed stability which is needed in this style.

Detailed instructions for making the cloche and the attached bow can be found on my blog ladyviolette.com. The pattern is titled Edward Hopper Inspired Portrait Cloche Hat and was posted Feb. 11, 2014. The bow making details and pictures were posted on Feb. 12, 2014, if you need to search the blog for these posts.

Sizing: This hat is designed to fit adult head sizes 21 - 23 inches - no adjustments necessary because it will stretch to fit.

Yarn: I was in a yarn shop today and they told me Bulky and Chunky yarns are often considered the same. They had this yarn I used in the chunky section. Some of the bulky yarns were even thicker so please select yarn by the gauge on yarn band of 3sts per inch on whatever needles it suggests. You will change needles sizes several x to shape the hat so their is no need to make a swatch
(yeah!) if you choose yarn with this gauge on the band.

If you are daring try knitting this with 2 yarns held together to achieve the correct weight of yarn. I suggest going to Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for information on the yarn I used and what they say about the gauge and needle size so that you can use this as a guideline to make combined yarn substitutions - in which case you may want to knit a swatch to the specifications of this original yarn I used when designing the hat.