I made this hat seven times for a group ski trip. It uses fairisle knitting methods are can be topped with an optional pom pom. The top is gathered using the pinch method. It’s my first pattern so may not be perfect, but hey: it’s free!

You need around half a ball of chunky yarns in green, white and blue, and a pompom will easily finish off one of the remaining half balls. I used merino because it’s soft and snuggly and no one likes a scratchy hat!

You can use circular or double pointed needles and can probably flex between 5.5mm to 6.5 depending on what you have available. It’s good to go up half a size for the main hat once you’ve done the ribbing, but you could easily bang it out any just 6.0 or 6.5 rather than buying more needles.

The main thing is: if in doubt about gauge, go a tad loosey goosey rather than tight, else the floating yarns on the reverse will be tight and you won’t have any stretch in your finished hat.