This the beginning of the Christmas Season for many of us. Especially those of us in retail. As I work at my LYS I need to get my Christmas Mojo in place and be ready to help those who need my help, either with gifting ideas or help in sorting out problems with finishing those special things.

I love this time of the year. It doesn’t matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate, most cultures celebrate the Winter Solstice in some way. Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Soltice or Saturnalia, they are celebrations of joy and sharing! And an acknowledgement that the longest night of the year has come and gone. So every year I like to share a pattern through Ravelry. So here is my gift to you free for the month of December and running through early January!

I was thinking about this and realizing that for the Southern hemisphere this will the shortest night of the year! Still any excuse to celebrate is a good one!

I think that Cyclone is a good basic hat pattern. Not too fussy, will look effective in almost any colour and it notes the kind of year that many of us have had! Chaotic and cyclonic. So I made it my Christmas pattern. It will be free for the month of December and going into early January.

This has been the year of Weather. This Mosaic stitch pattern reminded me of the circular wind patterns that comes with some of those types of weather, such as Cyclones, here on the West Coast; and Hurricanes, on the East Coast.

So I designed a hat.

Mosaic knitting is a method of creating colourwork and textural patterns without carrying yarns across your work.

Materials: Chunky weight yarn, 75 grs of the main, white and 50 grs of the contrast, rust, sample was knit with Eco Scandinavian Chunky; 5.0mm US #9 40cm 16-inch circs and 6.0mm US #10 40cm 16-inch circs and dpns; markers and the regular notions.

Gauge: 15 sts in 4 inches in mosaic pattern – lightly stretched.

Size: One size – approx. 20 – 22 inches to fit the average adult or teen head.

Notes on Mosaic Knitting:
Mosaic knitting is colourwork without stranding, instead you knit with one colour and slip the stitches for the second colour. Each colour is worked in a two-row sequence. Mosaic knitting patterns are easiest to read when in chart format. The colour squares at the right side of the graph, column 0, represents the colour the rows are knit with, while the other colour is slipped where indicated.

Notes on Reading Mosaic Charts: When working circularly read all rows from right to left and work only with the colour indicated and slip the colour that you are not working with. Always slip your stitches purlwise.

Notes on Sizing – the pattern can be made larger by working with a larger needle size, a 6.5mm US #10.5 or 7.0mm US #10.75 needle. The mosaic st is a very forgiving style of knitting. For a smaller size, go the opposite way, try a light weight chunky or heavy aran and work with 5.5mm US #9 needles.