When you need a little extra warmth, go for this colorwork toque. The fingering-weight yarn creates a fabric that’s not too heavy to fit under your climbing or bike helmet, but you’ll love the extra squishy layer of color over your ears. The tweedy, rustic style looks great on men and women, and the possible color combinations are endless. Since the color pattern is fairly simple, this is a great introduction for those new to stranded color work.

Finished Size
About 201⁄4 (21, 22)“ (51.5 53.5, 56 cm) head circumference and 71⁄2 (73⁄4, 81⁄4)” (19 19.5, 21 cm) long.

Example A shown on woman in size 21” (53.5 cm).
Example B shown on man in size 22” (56 cm).

Yarn
Sock weight (#1 Super Fine). Main Color (MC): 119 (128, 137) m. Contrast Color (CC): 36 (46, 55) m.

Shown here: Brooklyn Tweed Loft (100% Targhee-Columbia wool; 275 yd 251 m/50 g): colors for Example A: Old World (MC), 1 skein; Snowbound (CC), 1 skein; colors for Example B: Pumpernickel (MC), 1 skein; Hayloft (CC), 1 skein.

Needles
Size U.S. 3 (3.25 mm): 16” (40 cm) circular (cir) and set of 4 or 5 double-pointed (dpn).
Size U.S. 5 (3.75) mm 16” (40 cm) circular (cir).
Adjust needle sizes if necessary to obtain the correct gauges.

Notions
Markers (m); tapestry needle.

Gauge
25 sts and 36 sts = 4” (10 cm) over St st using smaller needle.
25 sts and 31 sts = 4” (10 cm) over color chart using larger needle.

For more details, see my blog post on this pattern.