I love this pattern! I’ve made it literally hundreds of times. It is beautiful and so stretchy. I generally avoid having to tote around two different sized sets of dpn’s, so I have adapted the ribbing portion of the pattern so that the entire hat can be done using a single set of dpn’s (the larger size only). Rather than cast on 70 stitches and work k3, p2 rib, I cast on 56 stitches (or an appropriate multiple of 4 depending on what size hat I am making - I think this one was 60) and work 2x2 rib for 2”. Then I work one round of k1, m1, k1, p2 to increase to the appropriate multiple of 5 for the pattern rows and begin working the 4 rows of pattern repeat. The m1 in the last row of ribbing is practically invisible, and the psso in the first pattern row covers it anyway. I guess you could also just work 2x2 rib and then begin with row 2 of the pattern repeat, but I like the look of starting the pattern with row 1.

I bought the Gala Yarns Mixed Fiber yarn at Big Lots expecting nothing special (I was there, it was there, it was a buck, what the heck…), but have been very pleasantly surprised. Who knew cheap acrylic could knit up so beautifully and feel so very soft! And the gradual gradation of color change is just so pleasant. Seriously?! Who knew?!? My only real complaint is the total lack of yardage and yarn weight information and the rather imprecise fiber description. This yarn is probably a worsted, but could be a DK weight, and I don’t really have a good guess as to the yardage.

Here’s a baby sweater in the same yarn.