It might be summer now, but I’m almost always thinking about Lithuania, so why not knit a hat with Lithuanian motifs on the crown? Then Lithuania can always be on my mind. This slouchy hat begins with a deep ribbed brim that is folded in half to keep the wind off your ears. The body of the hat is colorwork which also adds an extra layer of warmth. The pattern and crown are worked in a slow- changing gradient giving you the illusion of using multiple colors while only having one contrasting yarn.

The Symbols: Images of flowers are especially prevalent in Lithuanian knitting, as well as in weaving and in the embroidery decorating women’s blouses and aprons. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, designs of flowers planted in pots became popular motifs on hope chests, window shutters, and spinning-wheel distaffs. Today, lilies, tulips, and other flowers are among the most popular motifs found on mittens and gloves, both in the pieces I’ve seen in museum collections and in the mittens sold in tourist markets and folk-art galleries.

The Stitches This pattern is written for 144 sts in the colorwork section. If you are working an all-over pattern around the entire hat, you can inc a few more or a few less sts after the brim ribbing. In many books from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the author advises that it is more important to get a proper fit than to have a full repeat of the pattern at the end of the round. It is perfectly acceptable to have a visible “seam” at the center back or side.

Note: the instructions in the Symbols in Stithches ebook are recipes. The example shown is only one variation of what you can make.