I have been making these knitted winter hats for many years and have been meaning to get the pattern written out for a long time. Life and part-time study whilst working got in the way, but now the time has finally come! This Andesite Fair Isle Winter Hat pattern comes in both adult and child sizes, and both of these come with two sizes as well – as we all know, heads, as well as people, come in many shapes and sizes, and we need to be able to adapt what we make to the person in front of us! The hat has been popular at my winter markets in the past, and as it is relatively fast to knit up, it is a suitable pattern to make for selling.
The hats are knitted in a chunky soft alpaca and wool mix yarn from Drops Design – Drops Andes. The 35% alpaca content means that even my very sensitive head doesn’t get itchy when using my own hat. I use 8 mm needles rather than the recommended 9 mm, which is personal preference for a slightly tighter knit. You can of course use other yarns, just make sure you choose one with a similar yardage to Drops Andes – 90 g per 100 m.
The term “Fair Isle Knitting” is named after an island from Shetland in Scotland and is also called stranded colour work – meaning working with more than one colour yarn at the same time. Patterns can be simple or more complex, and apparently traditional fair isle knitting has five different colours. I don’t know if my pattern technically counts as fair isle knitting, but it’s what I’ve been calling it in my mind since I started making it, and it’s definitely stranded colour work, so I’ve decided to stick with it! Andesite is an igneous (volcanic) rock which is found in abundance in the Andes mountain range in South America, and it seemed a fitting name for my pattern.
The pattern gives some indications for tension, sizes etc., how to use circular/double pointed needles, a clear guide on how to make the fair isle pattern, how much yarn you need and some examples of colour combinations I have used.
You can find the PDF pattern for the Andesite Fair Isle Winter Hat in my Etsy Shop and my Ravelry Store for a small sum. Hope you have a great autumn and enjoy crafting!
