While winter provides me with a lot of quality yarn time, by the end of the season I’m desperate to get outside and play in the dirt. I refer to it as the doldrums of winter, the most depressing time of the year for me where I find myself glued to seed and plant catalogs (lovingly referred to as garden porn in our house) just to see something green. It’s chilly when spring finally does start to make an appearance, so naturally I need a new spring hat! I have many favorite harbingers of spring: the arrival of sandhill cranes to the area, seeing the swans fly overhead, the first visible buds on the trees, and of course the first flowers. I’ve always wanted a yard full of crocuses to look forward to, and so when I was thumbing through books for inspiration and came across the crocus lace pattern, I knew I had to work it into a spring project for sure!

Materials:

• 1 skein Malabrigo Dos Tierras (100g, 210 yds, 50/50 merino wool/baby alpaca). Color 057 English Rose shown.
• 16” circular needles in US 5 and 7.
• US 7 dpns for crown of hat, or longer circulars if you prefer magic loop
• 14 grams of TOHO 6/0 beads. I used a galvanized hot pink bead in a PF finish from Bobby Bead.
• Floss threader for stringing beads onto yarn and a piece of fleece or flannel to keep the beads from rolling around while stringing
• Stitch marker
• Yarn needle to weave in ends

Gauge and Measurements:
The finished hat is 12” long and will fit your average adult head – 20-24” in circumference. Using US 5 needles, check your gauge before you begin. You do not need to do a full on 4”x4” swatch with blocking, etc. I cast on 16-20 stitches and knit in stockinette for a dozen rows. Then measure how many sts per inch in a couple different rows. I consistently get 5.5 sts per inch in stockinette on US 5 needles.