This pattern is retired and not usually available. However, I make many of my retired patterns available for a few days twice a year, and this is one of those times! It will be available from now through some time on Monday, December 2. Then it will go away again.

In the summer of 2022, I realized that I found maintaining a back catalog of hundreds of patterns overwhelming. I couldn’t do it and still release new things. So I took my old patterns down so I could keep doing new work.

A few favorites have come back, and lots of new things have come out! But the vast majority of the old patterns are retired and are no longer generally available.

However, enough folks have asked about old favorites that I make many of the retired patterns available for a few days twice a year (usually in early summer and around Thanksgiving).

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available!
• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, then it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns are available, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

Various adjective of differing kinds, dissimilar in nature

This is a companion to Sundry (the cuffs in the picture at the bottom of this page).

So I don’t do proper colorwork. I can do it…I actually have done it once or twice. But I always feel like I’m about to be trapped in a giant spider web and devoured by a yarn monster.

So instead…instead I cheat.

I do things that let me play with multiple yarns (because that’s too much fun not to do) while only ever using one yarn per row (because somehow that’s easier). And this hat might be my favorite cheat yet!

You only use one color per row, and all the fancy bits happen by slipping stitches. It’s easier than it looks (practice a bit on your swatch and you’ll have the hang of it in no time). And I know I shouldn’t be this pleased with myself, but wow is the end result more impressive than it has any right to be (especially that crown)!

It’s a perfect way to show off your favorite fancy yarn (like this awesome gradient) or to make use of that leftover half skein that’s too much yarn to throw away but not quite enough to make a project on its own. Pair it with a high contrast partner and you’re off (if you have trouble deciding what yarns are high contrast, try looking at them with your phone camera with a black and white filter…if they still look distinct in black and white, they’re high contrast).

Oh, and if rolled brims aren’t your favorite, I’ve included a variation with a ribbed brim you can sub in if you want.

The hat is written in four sizes (castons of 90, 96, 102, and 108 stitches), and you should feel free to adjust your gauge a bit to fine tune the fit of the hat. Just be sure that you’re working at a gauge that gives you a fabric you like with your chosen yarns!

I recommend working at something around 4.5, 5, 5.5, or 6 stitches per inch, and I’ve included a table to help you figure out what gauge you’ll want to use for your size. With that range of sizes and gauges, the hat will fit a head between 17.5 and 23.75 inches (with lots of points in between).

Oh, and just to help you plan, I used about 125 yards of each yarn to make a hat for a large adult. If you’re making a bigger or taller hat (or if you use a ribbed brim instead of a rolled brim), you might want more like 150 yards each yarn.

And in case you’re planning to make the mitts too, one full skein of each yarn was plenty to make large adult sizes of both the hat and the matching mitts (with enough yarn left over that I wasn’t even nervous at the end).

This is perfect for you if:

• You’ve got an absolutely glorious yarn you want to show off!
• You absolutely must know how that stitch works

It’s not for you if:

• You don’t like charts (the pattern uses charts)
• You hate swatching (you need to swatch to check your needle size)