Pattern for knitting Tree of Life Hat by Anna Morwen

Protected by the Universe…

This pattern is a part of the cycle “Tripillia” and it refers to the heritage of a big ancient civilization Cucuten-Tripillia which was located in Southeastern Europe including the territory of modern Ukraine. For communication, they used logographs (written characters that represent a semantic component of a language, such as a word). Logographs were also used in decorative arts, most often as amulets.

Apparently, Tripillia people were thinking a lot about the structure of this world, the flow of time, the connection between generations. The colorwork on this hat has a logograph that means “tree of life”. It was a protective symbol, symbol of the World’s and Time’s unity, and it was a model of the Universe.

This hat is knitted bottom-up, in the round, starting with half-twisted ribbing, decorated with simple colorwork in the body. The crown decreases gradually in sections, and is gathered at the peak. The pattern is offered in two sizes, with clear, complete instructions as well as links to captioned videos.

Languages: UKR, ENG

Number of pages: 7

Skill level: intermediate  

Estimated time spent: 3-5 hours approx., depending on size and your skills

Skills and techniques required 

*knitting in the small round

*stranded colorwork

*half-twisted ribbing

*elastic cast on (proposed in the video or one of your choice)

*increase: RLI

*decreases: k2tog, SKP

*embroidery on knitting by duplicating stitches (optional)

*jogless colorwork

*colorwork inside out

Sizes and finished measurements (approx.) 

S-M (works for head circumference 51-56 cm/20-22’’):

49 cm/19.3’’ circumference;

29 cm/11.4” length.

M-L (works for head circumference 55-61 cm/21.65-24’’):

52 cm/20.5’’ circumference;

30.5 cm/12’’ length.

How to figure out your size: Wrap the measuring tape snugly around the widest possible circumference - from the most prominent part of the forehead (often 1-2 fingers above the eyebrow) around to the widest part of the back of the head.

Yarn

Chunky/Bulky

The sample was knitted with Universal yarn. Deluxe Chunky 

(#91908 Woodsy Heather as MC and #3729 Bronze Brown as CC)  

2-ply, 100% wool, 110 m per 100 g/120 yd per 3.53 oz

 Note, that the more similar yarn you will choose, the more similar result you will get.         

Meterage/yardage (approx.) 

S-M: MC - 72 g/2.5 oz, or 79 m/87 yd; CC - 19 g/0.7 oz, or 21 m/23 yd

M-L: MC - 81 g/2.9 oz, or 89 m/97 yd; CC - 19 g/0.7 oz, or 21 m/23 yd

This doesn’t include swatch making.                                            

Needles 

Circular or interchangeable needles at least 60 cm/24” long of sizes 5.5 mm/US9/UK5 and 

6 mm/US10/UK4.

Gauge 

16.4 stitches and 19.6 rounds in 10 cm/16.7 stitches and 19.9 rounds in 4’’ in colorwork in the small round with needles 6 mm/US10/UK4 after blocking.

Why is my gauge so precise?

I believe that the most accurate method to determine the gauge is to measure the whole length and width of the blocked swatch and to divide each value correspondingly to the amount of the stitches and rows/rounds that you made to create your swatch. In this case, you will get fractions. Rounding these fractions to smaller or bigger whole numbers will lead to inaccurate measurements of the finished object. Only the sum of all the stitches and rows/rounds used to make an object could be rounded to maximum half of the whole number.

Additional materials and tools:

• up to 5 stitch markers
• tapestry needle
• DPN for crown (optional)