‘Lest We Forget’ Aran Poppy Beanie:

My poppy beanie was inspired by a conversation that I was party to in the wee village of Dallas, where I live, in the Scottish Highlands, regarding our village war memorial. A local amateur historian was researching the lives of those named on it, not their deaths. This struck a chord with me and I decided to design a bright and happy hat that celebrated the lives of those lost, with bright poppies of remembrance.

In Scotland, our Remembrance Day poppy is different to others. It has the same recognisable blood red colour, but it has four petals and no leaf, in contrast to the poppy worn on the lapels of the rest of the UK, which has two and sometimes sports a green leaf. This design says thank you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice…Lest we forget.

This beanie is incredibly warm because of its stranded colour work in Aran wool, which gives it a double layer of yarn at the back that traps warmth in. It features a row of golden barley, with bright and bold poppies growing through it. It has a short green knitted lining band, with a picot edge, which is knitted first, before the outside patterned layer.

It is knitted in the round so there are no seams and only knit stitches are required. You may use either a set of double-pointed knitting needles or a circular knitting needle, depending on your preference, though you may still need double-pointed needles for the crown decreases. The beanie is finished with 2 knitted poppy pompoms, suspended from the crown by I-cord stems.

Only 2 colours are used at any one time, with the exception of the black centres and petal edges of the poppies, where there are 3. If you do not want to knit with 3 colours, the black sections can be added later using Swiss darning / Duplicate stitch. There are some long floats of yarn to the rear of the pattern, which need to be caught up.

Some experience in knitting fair isle or stranded colour work would be useful when knitting this design, although full instructions are given for the construction methods used.

I do hope you enjoy knitting this design and watching your poppies grow.

Materials:
Aran weight Shetland wool or equivalent:

The yardage of the yarn used was 95m/104yds per 50g.

Dark Green: 72g Yellow: 36g Red: 30g Light Green: 24g Black: 10g

Knitting Needles:
One set of double-pointed 5mm (US 8) knitting needles are suggested for knitting the beanie. (Alternatively, you may use a circular knitting needle of the same size, if preferred)
One set of double-pointed 3.25mm (US 3) knitting needles are suggested for knitting the poppy tassels and I-cords.
Measurements (unstretched):

One size fit most:
Circumference 21 inches / 54cm by length 9.5 inches / 24cm

Tension:
Approximately 18 stitches and 22 rows to 10cm over the pattern.