Linda's Happy Accident

3 hats from 1 little “mistake”

Linda, one of my knitting students, would be the first person to say that she has trouble concentrating in class. She missed a few steps on her first in-the-round project — in place of 2x2 ribbing, her project had a diagonal knit/purl texture. Rather than rip it out and start over, I convinced her to just keep going – her “mistake” became a design element, a teaching opportunity and a happy accident.

I used Linda’s happy accident to design 3 hats, each using common stitch patterns – knit/purl texture, 2-color Fair Isle and simple lace. The basic premise is that working a 2-by-2 pattern stitch over an odd number of stitches produces a beautiful slant design.

Skill Level: Easy
Size: Adult Medium
Gauge: Hat I – 22 sts and 25 rounds = 4” in St st in the round. Hat II – 24 sts and 24 rounds = 4” in 2-color Fair Isle (section A of Hat II instructions). Hat III – 20 sts and 25 rounds = 4” in Lace Stitch (section B of Hat III instructions).

Materials:

• Worsted weight yarn: Hat I – 200 yards.  Hat II – (MC) 100 yards, (CC) 75 yards. Hat III – 200 yards.
• Needles: 16” circular and 1 set of 5 double-pointed needles (dpns), size US 7 (4.5mm) or size needed to obtain gauge
• 8 stitch markers
• yarn needle

Models shown: Hat I Cascade Sierra (80% cotton, 20% wool) 100g/191yds, 1 hank, color #423. Hat II Cascade Pima Tencel (50% pima cotton, 50% Lyocel) 50g/89yds, 1 ball each color # 9364 (MC), color # 0030 (CC).  Hat III Cascade Sierra (80% cotton, 20% wool) 100g/191yds, 1 hank, color #28