I originally knit my son a hat for Christmas that had moose on it. Unfortunately I botched the Fair Isle and it was too tight. The first of January I cast on for a new hat, a better hat, a hat with moose! I decided that it should have two colors: blue to represent sky and water, and green for reeds and grass. I further decided that since he’d rather pull off his hat than wear it that’d I’d incorporate earflaps and ties to keep it on his head. I scrolled through hundreds of hats on ravelry and though I found some I liked, none were perfect. So, I made my own. I never did end up putting a moose on it, he needed to wear it before I could fully finish all the details, but it looked cute enough.

The hat is knit starting with the icord ties. After knitting several inches of icord increases will form the earflap. Using the backwards loop method (because it has more give to it) you will cast on for the main body of the hat. Then the hat is joined in the round.

The Fair Isle is minimal and would be a good place to start for a first timer. There are only five rows where both yarns are carried.