This hat was designed for the Madison Knitters’ Guild’s 2021 Knit-In Cast On Party as a celebration of scrappy knitting. The inspiration is a favorite knitting book, Sally Melville Styles, which celebrates knitting with leftovers to appear artistic rather than just practical. The designs in the book are mostly garments, so, as an introduction to her artistry, I applied Sally’s inspiration to an accessory.

The Fairly Scrappy Hat is knit in a classic stranded knitting pattern, but each 2- or 3-row set of blocks is knit with a completely different yarn. The main color is carried up into the small blocks to ground the constantly changing colors and/or textures. You are free to arrange your scraps in a way that pleases you with some suggestions to follow from the designer.

With a fold over ribbed band and doubled yarn in the stranded knitting, this is a warm hat for chilly days. For extra fun, combine your leftover scraps into a colorful pompom to top it off!

SIZE
Baby (child, teen to adult small, adult medium to large)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Circumference: 15¼ (17, 19½, 21)“/39 (43, 49.5, 53) cm (stretches 2-3”/5 – 7.5 cm)
Length: 7 (8¼, 9½, 12¾)”/18 (21, 24, 27) cm

MATERIALS
Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (100% U.S. grown wool; 245 yds/100 g), one skein. Sample shown in 880W Charcoal.
OR
90 (125, 140, 160) yards/ 82 (114, 128, 146) meters worsted weight yarn

PLUS
12 (15, 15, 18) DK, worsted or aran weight yarn scraps 134 (150, 174, 188)“ or longer (approximately 1/3 less required for contrast color C)

US #5/3.75 mm and #7/4.5 mm 16” circular needles or size to match gauge
US #7/4.5 mm double point needles (or knitter’s preference for working top of hat)
Stitch marker, tapestry needle

GAUGE
23 sts and 24 rows = 4”/10 cm in stranded colorwork, not stretched