The Christ Church Tam was my personal challenge to meld the beauty and light of stained glass with the warmth and texture of yarn. I used the delightfully springy, tightly plied Socks That Rock yarn because of its beautiful color and hand. As a result, the finished project has a pleasant hand and weight. However, because the yarn is a bit slippery, please be careful to trap your yarn carry if skipping more than four stitches at a time, or try using Susan Rainey’s stranding technique taught in her project It’s Not About the Hat on Ravelry. This will be an entirely different hat if done in a traditional wool.

I incorporated a lot of Christian and architectural symbolism in this tam. First of all, the brim design is not only a cable, but a wheel within a wheel. This is in reference to the first chapter of Ezekiel, as noted in several Negro spirituals. The small/medium hat size has four repeats to mirror the four wheels. On the crown, I have reproduced the rose window of Christ Church Cathedral with the ten “petals” in the rose, a half leaf on the perimeter, a set of wings for each angel, and a cross or chi rho for the center of the tam. The chi rho is an ancient Greek symbol for Christ comprised of the first two letters of Khristos; in English, those Greek initials look like XP.

Finished Size 18 (19½, 21¼)“ brim circumference and 10¼ (10½, 11¾)” tall. Tam shown measures 19½ “.

Yarn Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight (100% superwash merino; 405 yd 370 m/5.15 oz 146 g): help us, Rhonda (red; MC) and blue for ewe (CC), 1 skein each.

Note: You will have leftover yarn

Needles Size 0 (2 mm): 16” circular (cir). Size 1½ (2.5 mm): 16” cir and set of double-pointed (dpn). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.

Notions Markers (m); cable needle (cn); tapestry needle.

Gauge 33 sts and 40 rnds = 4” in Corrugated Rib patt on smaller needles; 35 sts and 40 rnds = 4” in Border patt on larger needles; 32 sts and 40 rnds = 4” in Angel’s Wing patt on larger needles.