This Pattern is Retired…but you can (probably) get it in November

I have a lot of patterns! But I also get overwhelmed if I have to deal with them all at once. So I’ve picked 12 of my favorites (the Core Collection) to keep around. Then every few months, I decide on a theme or a technique and make a handful of related patterns (the Rotating Collection) available for a little while (then they go away again).

The other patterns are retired and are not generally available. However, because I know some folks will want them, I make many of the retired patterns available for a few weeks every November. If you want me to tell you when they’re back, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, and I’ll let you know!

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available!
• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns are available (most likely in November), subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

This is a companion to Predilection (the mitts in the picture at the bottom of this page).

Sometimes? Sometimes I want something I can do on auto pilot. Something where I can just let my hands do their thing and I don’t have pay too much attention. Something where I can sit back and stare at the yarn and just sort of know it’s all going to work out in the end.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I want the end result to be delightful! But sometimes I want the process of getting to that end result to be seriously mellow.

And that’s what’s happening here. Grab two yarns, work a couple of rows to get the pattern established, then just glide. The only hard bit is deciding which side of the fabric you like best. I solved that by going for a folded brim, which means I get to see both sides of the fabric and I get warm ears when winter rolls around again.

You’ll want two yarns of a similar weight. They don’t have to be exactly the same, but you’ll want them to be close. One will be more prominent if you wear it right side out, and the other more prominent if you wear it inside out, so they’ll both get room to shine (especially if you make it with a folded brim like I did).

And yes, you are doing a teeny tiny bit of brioche, but I promise this is about as easy as brioche gets (no increases, no tricky decreases, no cables, no lace…if you can knit, purl, slip, and yarn over you totally have all the skills you need). You can totally do it (and you’ll be so proud of yourself when you do)!

The hat is written in six sizes (castons of 80, 88, 96, 104, 112, and 120 stitches), and you should feel free to adjust your gauge a bit to fine tune the fit of the hat. Just be sure that you’re working at a gauge that gives you a fabric you like with your chosen yarns!

I recommend working at something around 4.5, 5, 5.5, or 6 stitches per inch, and I’ve included a table to help you figure out what gauge you’ll want to use for your size. With that range of sizes and gauges, the hat will fit a head between 18 and 25 inches (with lots of points in between).

Oh, and just to help you plan, I used about 125 yards of each yarn to make a hat for a large adult. If you’re making a bigger or taller hat (or if you use a skinnier yarn), you might want more like 200 yards each.