Do you ever procrastinate on your gift knitting and then suddenly find yourself needing to knit like the wind to make the giving deadline? I know I do! So, I am always on the lookout for patterns that I can stitch up quickly into cute presents for friends and family (or myself). When the idea for this colorful hat popped into my head, I knew immediately that it would be my go-to for last-minute gifts. The color changes in the main stitch pattern may look complicated, but they are made up of simple slip stitches that make the knitting whiz by — this hat knits up fast! The small amount of yardage needed for each pop of color also makes this hat a great use for leftovers from previous projects. Moreover, the stretchiness of this stitch pattern gives this hat lots of elasticity — my sample easily fit both my 22” head and my husband’s 24” head!

Techniques Used with Tutorials Provided:
Pom-pom creation

Yarn Used:
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted
(100% wool; 110 yd 101 m per 50 g skein)

Main Color: Firecracker Heather; 1 skein
Contrast Color 1: Brass Heather; 1 skein
Contrast Color 2: Cloud; 1 skein

Needles:
US 8 / UK 6 / 5.0 mm 16” (40 cm) circular needle and US 8 / UK 6 / 5.0 mm double-pointed needles (DPNs)
A 32” (80 cm) or longer circular needle can also be used to work the Magic Loop method.

Notions:
Stitch markers, yarn needle

Yardage Estimates from Sample:
Main Color: 75 yd (69 m), 34 g
Contrast Color 1: 49 yd (45 m), 22 g
Contrast Color 2: 47 yd (43 m), 21 g

Final Measurements:
Circumference: 21-22” (53.5 cm - 56 cm)
Length: 8.5” (21.5 cm) not including pom-pom

This pattern has been tech edited and test knit.
I would like to extend a very special thank you to my fabulous technical editor, tricotedit, and my wonderful, helpful test knitters, kaisukka, therealkat, YarnJypsy, and Juanamac. Grazie mille!