You know that thing where the simpler something is, the more the details matter? Well the knitting here is about as simple as it gets (it’s very nearly all stockinette in the round), but that just gives the details room to shine.

You’ll start by working a turned hem (which has quickly become my absolute favorite way to start a hat, it’s just so tidy, and it keeps your ears extra warm and cozy) in a contrast color. Then you’ll work the body in your main color, carrying one single column of contrast color stitches up the side as you go. You’ll end by working a tiny little starburst with the contrast color at the very top of the hat (which is far cuter than it has any right to be).

This actually makes for a lovely (if somewhat restrained) hat all on its own, and you could totally stop here if you wanted to. But I don’t think you will. Because once you’re done knitting, you get to adorn your hat with some absolutely delightful embroidery.

As with the knitting, the embroidery is surprisingly simple. You’ll work a few rows of backstitching to build a framework then weave a lovely little lattice between the rows. I promise the lattice is not nearly as complicated as it looks (it’s really just two steps repeated over and over). You can totally do it, even if you’ve never embroidered anything before.

Though once you start, you may find it hard to stop!

General information

This 30-page pattern is tremendously detailed and holds your hand every step of the way. There are pages and pages of step-by-step photos to show you exactly what to expect as you work. It walks you through both the hat and the embroidery with dozens and dozens of photos.

The pattern is almost absurdly detailed, but it really does mean you can totally make this, even if you’ve never embroidered on your knitting before!

Skills & scope

The actual knitting is delightfully simple, turned hem, plain stockinette body, nice mellow decreases (with an adorable starburst at the top). All the excitement comes from the embroidery you work at the end, and that’s all spelled out in alarming detail in the pattern, so you can totally make this!

The pattern uses charts, so you will need to know how to follow a knitting chart.

Yarn, gauge & sizing

The hat comes in eight sizes (everything from an 80 stitch cast on to a 136 stitch cast on) and is written for seven gauges (from four to seven stitches per inch in half stitch increments). That means you can use just about any weight of yarn from fingering up through bulky, and there will be a size to fit pretty much anyone’s head. Basically anything that will give you a smooth, even fabric with a drape you like somewhere in that range of gauges will work.

You’ll also want yarn to embroider with. I did three courses of embroidery on mine, but you can do as many or as few as you’d like, and you can use as many or as few colors for the embroidery as you’d like.

You can absolutely use scrap yarn for the embroidery.

The hat in the pictures took about 150 yards of aran-weight yarn for the knitting (about 1/3 in the contrast color used for the brim, about 2/3 in the main color used for the body) and about 50 yards of aran-weight yarn for the embroidery (I did about 1/4 in the darker color, 3/4 in the lighter, though you can absolutely change the colors around if you want).

If you’re working with thinner yarn, 250 yards for the knitting and 100 for the embroidery is a safer bet.

Tools & supplies

You’ll need needles that let you work in the round (circulars or DPNs) in whatever size lets you get a solid fabric with your chosen yarn plus the general knitting tools you need for most projects (scissors to cut your yarn, a darning needle to weave in ends, the occasional stitch marker or bit of scrap yarn to hold stitches). You’ll also want a piece of scrap yarn at least three feet long.