My friend Mairtin, who works as a tour guide here in Ireland and who is an expert in Neolithic history, recently published images of sherds of a Bronze Age pottery food vessel found at an excavation site at Fourknocks in County Meath by Mr. P. J. Hartnett in 1950 - 1952. In his publication, Mairtin had worked a drawing of what the completed pot should have looked like if it was complete.

I was so fascinated by the detail on this beautiful piece that I decided to translate it into a knitting pattern.

I turned Mairtin’s drawing upside-down and designed a simple knit/purl pattern with 4-stitch cables, to be worked in the round and top down from the centre of the crown. I used locally produced alpaca yarn held together with a strand of mohair for a pottery-like mottled colouring, to give the fabric a stiffer body, and to prevent the hat from stretching out of shape. I finished with an i-cord edge, which mimics the rolled edge of the pottery piece. The vessel is approx. 12 cm in height, so this hat is a relatively close life size reproduction.

I designed a 1-colour and 2-colour version in stranded colourwork for you to choose from. The hues I picked for the 2-colour hat are a chocolate brown as background and a caramel for the “cogwheel lines” or ribs. The colours are quite similar, so the lighter ribs appear as if light reflects on the pottery ridges.

The pattern is written for sizes S, M and L, and on the illustrations you see size M. The yarn I used is available from our alpaca farm’s website https://www.curraghduffalpacas.com/, but any fingering yarn would work fine. the The result is a very comfortable hat with an excellent fit and a shape that stays in place. I would recommend this hat to intermediate knitters. I hope that each step is thoroughly explained in my pattern, and I am happy to help with any questions; simply contact me via my website or on Ravelry.

For more information about the vessel please go here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25506253

Enjoy!