Black Brook Beanie Pattern

Wow, so it’s been a while! It has been almost seven months since I last posted about this hat and so much has changed in that time! So much to write about that I’m not even sure where to start, which is why I haven’t yet.  Anyway, I had originally designed the hat for a trip we were planning for Iceland, but due to some health issues I had to have surgery during the time we were supposed to be away, so unfortunately we had to cancel. Thank goodness we had travel insurance! As you can imagine, I wasn’t in a huge hurry to get to this hat since the trip was off and by the time I was recovered it was summer. Who wants to think about hats in the dead of summer, am I right?

Now, though… winter is coming! All I can think about is hat, scarves, mittens and sweaters. There’s a pretty solid record of my love of autumn and the first thing on my to do list was to finally get the pattern for this hat out there.

If you recall from my previous post, this hat was inspired by my favourite beach in Cape Breton. I had a specific type of hat in mind when I started this design as I don’t like really slouchy hats, but I don’t like fitted beanies either. I like a cross between a slouchy hat and a beanie, a sleanie? I’d totally call it that, but I like all the B’s. Black Brook Sleanie sounds weird, maybe I need to go back to the drawing board on this…

Other things I wanted were:

• A warm, snug earband that would keep my ears warm and keep the hat from slipping down.
• A stitch that would create a thicker, warmer fabric for the body of the hat, which the linen stitch does as you are basically creating a double thickness when you carry the yarn over.
• Something with a somewhat flat top so that if you (like me) love a fluffy pompom, it can sit neatly on top, but that would still look ok without it.
• A hat with a pattern that, depending on colour choice, could work for men, women or children.
• Something easy to resize for people’s needs. With a repetitive pattern of two stitches, it’s very easy to add 6 stitches or remove 10 depending on the size you are trying to achieve. It is also very easy, if you are using the magic loop method (which I recommend!) to try on the band once it is done to get an idea of the fit. If you prefer a baggier or slouchier hat, it’s just a matter of adding stitches and knitting longer before starting the decreases.

Before I could make any of those things happen, I had to remake it, because firstly, I had completely forgotten the details of how I made it the first time and secondly, I hadn’t made any decent notes for myself. A very valuable lesson for a new designer like me… notes, LOTS OF CLEAR AND PRECISE NOTES! Honestly, I had pages of random notes scribbled on various pieces of paper regarding this hat and all it left me with 6 months later is a question about what particular type of drugs I may have been on when I wrote them.

Anyway, I got there in the end, with the added bonus of a non-pompom hat for my hubby! Oh, we’re so matchy-matchy. I figure we’re only about 5-10 years from matching velour tracksuits!

I hope you like it!  Please do tag me on Facebook or Instagram if you make the hat and share photos as I would really love to see it.

Link one more time for those who missed it:

Update (December 12, 2016): It was brought to my attention that there was an error in the decrease section of the pattern. Row one of the setup rows should read as follows:

k10 in pattern, 3stdec, (k20 in pattern, 3stdec) 4 times, k10 in
patt to end. (105 sts)

This has been fixed in the PDF, so if you are downloading it after Dec 12, 2016 you will have the correct version. Sorry for any trouble!

This design is made with Sheepjes Merino Soft yarn.  You can find a list of retailers that sell it here on the Scheepjes website.  It is also available worldwide via Wool Warehouse*.

*Affiliate Link