Lady Catherine Hat

March of 2019 we decided to attend the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. My husband’s family is Scottish, and immigrated to the United States in the 19th century, so we wanted to discover where they lived and loved. While we were visiting Lockerbie and his namesake Parish of Dryfesdale, we decided to explore a nearby castle. It was a rainy afternoon in March when we discovered Caerlavarock Castle. It’s a castle ruin, surrounded by a moat. It’s pink walls, a moss covered rock and fireplaces made our imaginations run wild. We read about the Maxwell family how they defended the castle in the lowlands of Scotland. A few days later, we were looking on my husband’s Family Tree Ap, and found a line he had never seen before. He was related to Lady Catherine (Kate) of Caerlavarock Castle, and 10 generations of Maxwells who built and lived and rebuilt and defended Caerlavarock Castle. We just had to design a hat (and more) this is just the beginning. The hat has a luckenbooth motif, a Celtic knot, thistles, and a nod to the Scottish flag.

Size
One size fits average head (22 inches). Hat size can be altered with changing gauge and knitting with smaller or larger needles as needed.

Yarn
Jamieson Spindrift 100% real Shetland Approx 105 m per 25 g ball or equivalent fingering weight yarn.

Main Color 104 Natural White 1 x 25 g ball
Contrasting Colors Yarn A 567 Damask 1 x 25 g ball
Yarn B 147 Moss 1 x 25 g ball
Yarn C 170 Fjord 1 x 25 g ball
Yarn D 141 Camel 1 x 25 g ball
Yarn E 246 Wren 1 x 25 g ball
Yarn F 230 Yellow Ochre 1x 25 g ball
Yarn G 1190 Burnt Umber 1 x 25 g ball

Needles size 2.75 mm (US 2) and 3.25 mm (US 3) double-pointed, 16-inch circular or Flexiflips. If using a circular needle you will need to use double-pointed needles or Flexiflips to finish the crown

The Lady Catherine Hat is knit in the round. Generally the hat is knit with two colors at once but there are a few round with three colors knit at the same time.

Skills used in the Lady Catherine Hat

Long-tail cast on
backward loop increase
Knit
Purl
knit with one color and purling with another for corrugated ribbing
knitting with 2 colors
knitting with 3 colors (for only a few rows here and there).
K2 psso decrease

If you are new to Jamieson Spindrift, it gets softer and dreamer with each wash and wear. It’s completely worthy of an heirloom knit.