Get both Golden Oak patterns, both hat and mittens, for just $6.00! No coupon code is needed. This discount is retroactive, so if you’ve already purchased one pattern you will still receive the discount if you purchase the other! (Sorry, this will only work with purchase, not if the hat pattern was downloaded when it was free.)

Each year when summer starts to wane I start dreaming of autumn. I think of the crisp days and early dusk as the days grow shorter, blazing color as the leaves start to change, and feeling them crunch underfoot as I walk leisurely through the woods, soaking up all these sensations. I confess that this is only my dream of autumn. September in the Southwest desert is a little different, although quite beautiful in its own way. The days start to wane as they do elsewhere, of course, but the weather is still warm. We do feel subtle changes – the sun’s light is more indirect, and loses the blinding brightness of high summer. The nights are longer and cooler, and there’s no doubt that our autumn is on the way. October and November are my favorite months here. A bit of crispness finally touches the air and the nights become cool. We usually get our first freeze in mid to late October, although the weather continues to be quite mild for a few more weeks. These are dry months, and the sky remains an astonishing blue – a wonderful contrast to the golds and browns of the autumn vegetation. Leaves on deciduous trees mostly turn golden yellow and blaze in their own way against the deep colors of the many evergreen trees and shrubs.

This hat is a companion to my Golden Oak Mittens, and a tribute to autumn. As other trees lose their leaves, the oak trees become a more prominent feature of the landscape, as most species don’t drop their leaves until spring. Their spreading forms are stately and magnificent, and it’s easy to see why they have been a symbol for many cultures of strength, endurance, protection and wisdom for so many centuries.

The Golden Oak hat is a beanie shape covered in oak leaves and acorns to coordinate with the mittens. It is knitted from the bottom up using charts for the colorwork. The directions are written for knitting it using short (16”) circular needles and double points for the crown decreases, but it could easily be adapted for magic loop. It knits up quickly in worsted weight yarn at a standard gauge, and is sized to fit most adults

Skills required:
• Long tail or other elastic cast on
• Knit and purl stitches
• Knitting small circumferences in the round
• Stranded color stockinette knitting
• Centered double decreases

Yarn requirements:

Worsted weight yarn suitable for stranding in two colors. I used Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (worsted weight, 100% wool, 100g/245 yds):

• MC – N25 Enchanted Forest – 100 yds
• CC – 148 Autumn Leaves – 75 yds