I love Tricia’s Advent KALs and prefer to start them after the Holidays. I originally planned to use Malbec Stroll Effects with Pearlescent Stroll Effects from my stash for the 2025 Advent KAL. Then I saw lacesockslupins ‘s 2025 Advent hat , fell in love with her hat’s moody vibe, and realized I had her yarn choices in my stash. I decided to follow lace’s lead and wanted to inform others I did not come up with these color choices on my own.

This project was a cautionary tale of why it is important to check gauge all throughout a project. My colorwork row gauge was lower than the non colorwork gauge, causing the crowns not to be the same distance from the hat’s midpoint. I had to use rapid decreases, smaller needles, and crown motifs different to the pattern’s on the colorwork side to enable the crowns to align.

Thank you for the lovely pattern, Tricia!

Project Notes:

• My first attempt used US 2.5 needles for striping and US 3 for colorwork. I hoped to attain an adult medium fit. Stitch gauge was 8 sts/inch when I reached 160 sts. This would give me a 20 in hat circ. (Have to keep in mind that the double layer will make a 20” hat feel tighter.) I stopped increasing when my stitch count reached 176. When work reached 6” from CO, my gauge was 7.5 sts and 10 rounds per inch. I tried the hat on as I approached the first colorwork section. It was HUGE! My gauge was 8 sts/in. I frogged and restarted. My increases were not so good so it did not disappoint me.
• 2nd attempt: I used lifted increases (instead of m1 increases), US 2 needles for stripes, US 2.5 needles for colorwork, and increased until I my stitch count reached 160. I also started the chroma yarn at the lightest part of the fade so I would have darker chroma during the stranded colorwork portion of the hat.
• Stage 1 Part 2 mod: k2tog in middle of round 5. Deleted/ignored column 8 for rounds 6-10. M1 or LI1 in middle of round 12. (An odd number of total stitches in rounds 6-10 enables the diagonal stripes to seamlessly spiral at the BO without jogs.)
• Measurements before 2nd crown:
  From circular CO to midpoint=8.5”.
  From circular CO to end of decreases=3”.
  From midpoint to end of small snowflake motif = 7.0”.
  Stripe section gauge: 8 sts ad 10 rounds per 1”.
  Colorwork section gauge: 8 sts and 8 rounds per 1”.
  Hat diameter was 10” (on both the striped and colorwork sides) and the hat fit my 22.25” head circumference well.
  My row gauge decreased when I went up a needle size for my colorwork. Therefore, my crown decreases need to be more aggressive and I to switch back to US 2 needles for the crown decreases on the colorwork side.
• Ripped back to beginning of snowflake motif and reworked the first half with US 2 needles and the 2nd half with US 1.5.
• The crown: In order to maintain the aggressive decreases, I had to come up with my own colorwork motif. I also used US 1 needles at the beginning of the crown and switched to US 0 midway through the crown.

Advent Hat 2025 Ravelry discussion
Emily Ocher’s Circular CO
RLI and LLI tutorial
Traveling Jogless Stripes
Jogless Fair Isle (start at 9:00)