Cozy up with your favorite bulky yarn to create a quick winter hat that will keep you cozy when the weather cools off!

The hat shown was made from Juniper Moon Farm’s “Herriot Great” yarn, which is 100% baby alpaca. This fiber is among the warmest out there, but can be tricky to use for hat projects since alpaca doesn’t have much natural resilience. But when paired with a super-stretchy stitch pattern like the smocking used on this brim, it makes a hat that is not only warm, but has a great fit and stylish look.

This pattern is written for your choice of a 16”, 18”, 20”, & 22” hat circumference, which generally corresponds to baby, child, smaller adult, larger adult sizes. The hat is intended to fit with 1”-2.5” of negative ease, which means the actual head circumference of the wearer should be, for example, between 21”-22.5” if you are knitting the 20” pattern size.

Even the largest size of this hat is less than 60 rows long, so this project is easily accomplished in a weekend, or in a matter of a couple hours if you are a quick knitter. A video link is provided in the pattern to a demonstration of the smocking stitch, in case you are unfamiliar with that technique.

Yardage requirements: 80 (100, 115, 130) yds of bulky-weight yarn. “Herriot Great” yarn comes in skeins of 131 yds, and you will be cutting it close if making the largest size. You may wish to buy a second skein and keep it unwound (so you can return it if you do not end up needing the extra yardage). Other strategies if you find your row gauge is smaller than the stated pattern gauge (which would mean you will run short on yarn): 1) Be prepared to either throw in a thin stripe of a different bulky yarn or, 2) Shorten the depth of the hat by a few rounds, just before beginning the crown decreases. The hat will still fit, but won’t come quite as far down to cover the ears as the sample hat shown.

Many thanks to ShelbyWoo, Elin76, and LTimms for testing this hat!