A stranded hat made with soft, fuzzy alpaca, in colors to brighten up dreary winter days. This hat uses a simple two-color pattern and has very easy decrease rows that can be started at any point to customize the length of the hat. Alpaca lacks the elasticity of wool, so this hat is made to be loose fitting.

If you are substituting yarn, a worsted weight (Ravelry lists this yarn as bulky but I’d call it worsted, it’s not thick, just very fuzzy), or anything you can get stitch gauge in (don’t worry about row gauge, it isn’t important in this pattern) should work. The largest size uses most of a 50g skein of the main color, and about 25g of the contrast color. Size small fits children, and medium and large are adult sizes.

Yarn
Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush (110 yds/50g)
1 skein main color (Eggplant)
1 skein contrast color (Sky)

Needles/Notions
1 set double pointed needles, size 5 (or size needed to obtain gauge)
Tapestry needle

Size
S (M, L)
Designed to fit loosely, shown in L on 22.5” head
Circumference: 17.5” (19.5”, 21.5”)
Height: 7” (8”,8”)

Gauge
In charted pattern:
18 sts and 27 rows = 4”

Skill Level
Easy. Techniques used include knitting in the round, stranded knitting, and decreasing.