This pattern is FREE until end of Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2022!

Here’s a quick, delicate hat inspired by the beautiful lacecap hydrangea flower - because I so want to see flowers in my garden again! Blossoms around the brim are connected in a gentle swirl of stems at the crown.

Lacecap Bloom features a textured lace, cables and rib pattern that “blooms” on all sides after blocking and when worn.

The pattern works well in sport weight or fingering yarn (wool or cotton) - the more body, the greater the stitch definition. The pattern has been tested in three different yarn qualities to show a range of effects - the wool is lighter and airy, whereas the cotton produces a denser cap with heightened relief and sheen.

The cap is worn fitted, with negative ease of about 2.5-5 cm (1-2 ins). Sizing is controlled by the number of stitches in the ribbed border and the number of rounds worked for the body. The body is written for size medium, with recommendations where extra rounds may be subtracted or added for sizes S and L.

The hat is knit bottom-up on circular needles and finished on double-pointed needles (or other needle technique as preferred). The band is cast on using the tubular cast-on method.

The lace, cables and rib pattern repeat is both charted and written out.

Patterned rounds (odd) alternate with simple rounds (even), offering both challenge and relaxation for knitters who love texture!

All body pattern rounds have the same number of stitches. Note that a couple of EOR marker shifts are required, so knitters should be comfortable with lace knitting.