Help for Haiti: From January 13 until May 31, 2010, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this pattern will be donated to Save the Children’s Haiti response.

The Lustgarten Foundation will receive 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this pattern from June 1 to Aug 31, 2010. Learn more about pancreatic cancer and the Foundation in a blog post by Kim Werker, here.

Do you know someone who makes your heart beat a little faster? Show your love with a beaded hat… or duplicate stitch if the recipient isn’t into sparkly beads!

This hat is worked from the bottom up in the round, with uncomplicated shaping. The heartbeat is charted, and the pattern uses markers to keep repeat sections easy to knit.

The hat shown uses nickel (base metal) beads with a large hole - a 1.65mm crochet hook fits through easily, and the bead sits nicely on the Cascade 220 yarn I used for testing. Beads were purchased at Country Beads in Vancouver, BC.

I have also successfully used the easier-to-find and less expensive silver-lined glass beads, one size up from seed beads, that will let a 0.60mm crochet hook easily slide through, though the tiny hook isn’t the easiest for this weight of yarn. Experiment!

If you choose to work the chart in duplicate stitch instead of beads, you will need approx 10m of a contrast colour in a similar or slightly heavier weight. If you want to try this as a colour-stranded project, make sure that you test your gauge - a needle change may be required to keep the stranded area from puckering! Note that this chart has very long stretches between the marked stitches, so the floats of the contrast yarn will have to be carefully managed and woven in as you go! I haven’t worked this pattern up as a stranded design, so I cannot make any recommendation for the amount of contrast yarn you would need for stranding.

Last but not least, sizing: This knits up at around 18”, but will easily block to 23” for those of us with larger heads! Worked as written, the hat will cover eyebrows and below ears to keep someone with a 21-23” head snug and warm. Optionally, you can subtract an inch from the length (doesn’t affect chart) for petite heads, or add a few inches to the length for those who like the poofed look or need room to tuck in ponytails or dreads!