Hendreary is also available in Whimsical Little Knits 3 which comes with instant ebook access.

Celebrate your love for buttons with this hat featuring giant ones in stranded colourwork. The buttons are worked against a traditional “lice” pattern, which, despite gross name, is an excellent way to work a non-repeating motif in stranded colourwork. The allover pattern allows both colours to be used all the way around the hat, making the knitting simple and the hat cosier with the resulting double thick layer. There are a few sections in the large blocks of contrast colour on the buttons where you will need to twist the two yarns together in order to avoid long floats. Pay attention to colour dominance, for the buttons to stand out well against the patterned background make sure that the contrast colour is dominant.

Achieving the right balance of simple but recognisable buttons took some trial and error: the first version ended up as more of a cookie hat. The soft, luxurious yak and cormo blend held up delightfully well to all of that ripping and re-knitting and is one of the warmest yarns I’ve used. A slight halo gives the colourwork softly rounded edges that makes a big difference to whether the pattern reads as buttons.

Worsted weight yarn in 2 colours: MC 120yds / 110m, CC 70yds / 65m. Shown in Bijou Basin Ranch Bijou Bliss (50% Yak, 50% Cormo wool, 150yds / 137m, 1.98oz / 56g) in MC - Steel and CC - Goldenrod.

Helpful links
Technique Thursday - Long-tail tubular cast on
Technique Thursday - Colour dominance