Big Fish Hat - Companion Hat to “little fish” - also in my Ravelry shop

Usually when I design a stranded hat, “order” is the order of the day. Each hat breaks down into smaller, repeatable pieces. Yet one of my most popular hats, the “Mother Goose Hat,” has 2 separate charts, each covering half the hat, no repeats. On a recent shopping trip with my daughter, we saw a pair of men’s shorts with fish embroidered on them, but unlike other shorts, the fish were random, unpredictable, just like a real school of fish! We loved them. Here is one of the hats that resulted from our shopping trip.

A slouchy “stash buster” hat (use some of those little balls to stripe those fish) with a braided edge worked in the round. A school of striped fish with blue eyes and a blue wave on the water’s surface. The fish have a sense of humor, but don’t look too childish. Not typical ocean colors, but the background colors show off the fish nicely. Three sizes, Small Child, Child & Adult provide a size to fit all fish lovers, A pom pom in the same colors as the fish for a pop of color on top. Consider using a self striping or tonal yarn for the fish to avoid changing yarn colors every round for the fish. Adult size shown, charts slightly different for each size.

Finished Measurements for sizes Small Child (Child, Adult)
Finished Length: 9 ( 10, 10 ) in
Finished Circumference: approximately 17 ( 19, 21 ) ins

Yarn
Note: If a self striping or tonal yarn is used, then combine the yardages of CC2 and CC3 (80, 90 or 100 yds of the single tonal color.) Two “Cascade Superwash Paints” colors are suggested as replacements (just choose one) for the colors CC2 and CC3. Any tonal will do, go with greens, or yellows or whatever the color of the fishies of your dreams! Extra yardage is included in the fish colors for a big pom pom. Yardage can be reduced by about 1/3 if no pom pom is going to be made.

Cascade 220 worsted (100% Wool; 220 yards/100g):
130, 140, 150 yds MC Navy #8393
40, 50, 60 yds CC1 Silver Grey #8401
40, 45, 50 yds CC2 Koi #9565 AND 40, 45, 50 yds CC3 Christmas Red #8895
OR 80, 95, 110 yds Superwash Paints Cherry Pie #9869
OR 80, 95, 110 yds Superwash Paints Tropical Punch #9859
Optional: 3 yds scrap yarn in any color for fish eyes.

Needles
US 7 (4.5mm) 24 inch circular needles, or size to obtain gauge
US 7 (4.5mm) DPNs same size as needles above
US 6 (4 mm) 24” circular needles OR 1 size smaller than above needles.

Notions
Seam Needle
Stitch Markers

Gauge
Hat: 20 sts and 26 rows = 4” in stranded St st in the round, blocked.