Christmas knitting is well underway here at my house and, like last year, I’m determined to shop my stash as much as possible. I had a couple of balls of Istex Alafosslopi that I wanted to use up so I took a look at patterns I’ve used on Ravelry. Couldn’t find exactly what I wanted so, I used a pattern I knitted once before as a take off point and played with it.

This is my variation on The Man Hat by Haven Ashley, a pattern available for free here on Ravelry. I wanted a two-color hat in a double broken rib stitch, so I took liberties with her excellent pattern. Changing colors over the ribbing created a chain like effect around the hat which I quite like.

My version makes an adult (large) beanie like hers. You can adjust the finished size by decreasing or increasing your needle size. This will change your gauge ( e.g. 4.5mm or 5.5 mm).

My sample uses two colors of Istex Alafosslopi, but you could use as many colors as you like. There is no reason this couldn’t be a stash buster, so be creative with what you have on hand.

This pattern is available for free on my blog.