A slouchy, stranded colourwork tam inspired by a favourite childhood book, By the shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It tells of Laura’s and Carrie’s nighttime adventure, bundled up against the cold, on the frozen waters of Silver Lake and their unexpected encounter with a wolf… who could have caught them but didn’t.

An ideal introduction to stranded colourwork, this hat is worked in the round using five shades of 4-ply yarn. You’ll need 140m of main colour and a total of 150m of 4 contrast colours, so it’s also a great project for using up small quantities of yarn!

This pattern contains a colour chart, as well as tips for working stranded colourwork, and has been tested by knitters both new to and experienced in this method.

(Please note that, since knitting my two samples, I have modified the chart very slightly; the hearts are slightly smaller and spaced further apart so that they fit evenly into the crown shaping.)