The names of many modern musical modes are the same as those used in ancient Greece, however, the series of notes or intervals are different today. Ionian is a musical mode named by Heinrich Glarean in 1547. It’s often the first mode most of us will learn and is the most familiar in Western music. Ionian is a major scale with 8 notes. The formula for playing this scale would look like this: Whole Step - Whole Step - Half Step - Whole Step - Whole Step - Whole Step - Half Step. To play an Ionian scale you would play: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C with the two Cs being an octave apart. This mode was named for the Ionian Islands, a chain of approximately 40 Greek islands off the western coast of Greece’s mainland. The islands sit in the Ionian Sea.

Pattern provides charted and written instruction.

The Ionian Beanie is a cable lovers dream. Right and left twists make their way up the hat from the edge all the way to the center of the crown.

If you choose to substitute yarn for this design make sure to pick another worsted weight with good stitch definition. A solid color is a must. The texture you worked so hard to knit will disappear in a yarn with too much variegation.