This hat was inspired by dichotomy and balance. The ribs move your eye horizontally, but they are broken. The cables move your eye vertically, and they are continuous. The cables travel all the way to the top of the hat, which is gradually decreased. The dichotomy in the design of this hat reminded me of how we perceive time, specifically, the past and the future. We think of the past in broken chunks or periods of time and the future in a long, continuous strand.

The 4-round repeat in this knitting pattern is easy enough for a beginning knitter and interesting enough to keep an intermediate or advanced knitter interested.

Skills:
• Long tail cast on (or other stretchy cast on method)
• Knitting
• Knitting two together
• Purling
• Purling two together
• Working cables
• Working in the round

Materials:
• 140-160m of DK weight yarn (Mayflower Cotton Merino Classic is pictured; I used less than 1 skein)
• Set of US size 3 (3.25mm) double pointed needles OR 16” circular OR 32”+ circular (magic loop method)
• Set of US size 6 (4mm) double pointed needles AND 16” circular OR 32”+ circular (magic loop method)
• If using magic loop, a single dpn or a stitch needle for cables
• Stitch marker