Late August on Unst, the northernmost inhabited island of the Shetland archipelago. Treeless green and gold hills. Water on every side, changing colors from moment to moment. Heather turning to rust, leaving just a memory of purple flowers. This close-fitting cap will keep your hair out of your eyes as you scan the far horizon, breathing deeply the cold, clean air.

The North Island Hat uses 10 colors in traditional motifs from Sheila Macgregor’s Traditional Fair Isle Knitting. In true Fair Isle fashion only two colors are used in each round. 

This hat is sized small/medium, but you could make it larger by knitting at a looser gauge.

As always, please use the size needle that gives you your wanted gauge! The needle sizes I name are suggestions only.

Techniques required: Stranded knitting and centered double-decrease (instructions included).

This hat calls for 10 colors, but only a small amount of each color is used: the hat weighs just over 1 ounce! Find some friends to share the yarn with….

Notions: Tapestry needle; stitch markers; coilless pins to mark the decrease points (optional)