This pattern (along with most of my earlier work) was retired in the summer of 2022. However, it may be available for a few days once or twice a year. Read on for details!

In the summer of 2022, I realized that maintaining a back catalog of hundreds of patterns was kind of overwhelming. I couldn’t do it and still release new things. So I took my old patterns down so I could keep doing new work.

Since then, a handful of my favorites have come back, and lovely new things have come out. But the vast majority of the old patterns are retired and will no longer be generally available.

However, enough folks have asked about some old favorites that I’m planning to make many of the retired patterns available for a few days once or twice a year (most likely in late spring and then again in the fall around Thanksgiving).

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available, and you’re welcome to grab it!
• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, then it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns will be available, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

This is a companion to Collusion and Misprision (the blue and pink hats in the pictures at the bottom of this page).

Entrapment noun the act of tricking someone into committing a crime

You know that feeling you get when you’re doing something that’s secretly really easy but looks super impressive? That feeling that sits dangerously close to smug self satisfaction? That feeling is what this hat is all about!

All you’re really doing here is working stockinette in the round. Yes, true, every now and then you’ll slip a stitch or twist a stitch (and of course, up at the top you do work some decreases). But at its heart, this is a tube of plain stockinette (and you’re always only working with one color per row).

But those little moments where you slip a stitch or twist a stitch…oh wow do those add up to something lovely. And I could be biased, but I think they’re awfully fun to do, too! The result looks like you spent ages and did something hideously tricky. It’s up to you whether you let people know it was really a piece of cake!

The hat is written in five sizes (castons of 96, 100, 104, 108, and 112 stitches), and you should feel free to adjust your gauge a bit to fine tune the fit of the hat. Just be sure that you’re working at a gauge that gives you a fabric you like with your chosen yarn (you want something dense enough that you don’t see the contrasting yarn behind your fabric).

I recommend working at something around 4.5, 5, 5.5, or 6 stitches per inch, and I’ve included a table to help you figure out what gauge you’ll want to use for your size. With that range of sizes and gauges, the hat will fit a head between 17.5 and 25.5 inches (with lots of points in between).

Oh, and just to help you plan, I used about 175 yards of the gray and 50 yards of the purple yarn to make a hat for a large adult. If you’re making a bigger or taller hat (or if you use a skinnier yarn), you might want more like 225 yards of the main color and 75 yards of the contrast yarn.

This is perfect for you if:

• You want to look like you’re doing something super clever (even if it really is easy)
• You have some extra bits of fancy yarn you’re looking to show off (you only need a little bit of the contrast yarn)
• You can’t help wondering how that would look as a cowl (there might just be secret cowl instructions hidden away in there)

It’s not for you if:

• You don’t like charts (the pattern uses charts)
• You hate swatching (you need to swatch to check your needle size)