The #RCTID hashtag may not be familiar to anyone outside the Portland Timbers or Portland Thorns soccer teams’ fan bases (or, perhaps, other Portlanders who see local social media), but the “Rose City ‘til I Die” chant is one the Timbers Army and Rose City Riveters sing only when the other team scores a goal. It’s a rallying cry to remind the players—not to mention the fans—that we’re still there, still cheering, no matter what. Which is just the sort of confidence-booster that we all need from time to time, I think.

I designed this hat so I could wear my Timbers and Thorns pride during the off-season, and I’ve also included a bunch of customization options (there are five pages of charts with those options!) for those of you who aren’t soccer fans or Rose City residents. There are 10 spaces around the first section of colorwork for whatever combination of letters, numbers, and/or designs you want, and I’ve included a couple of charts where those spaces are left blank so you can color them in to test your ideas.

Get creative with names, school mascots, birthday years, or whatever else you can spell in 10 spaces—or use the designs from the rest of the pattern to make a completely word-less work of art.

Materials & Details

• Yarn: roughly 130–150 yards/118–140 meters total worsted weight yarn (this breaks down to about 85–98 yards/78–90 meters MC and about 45–52 yards/42–48 meters CC)
• Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) and US 6 (4mm) circular needles (either a 16-inch/40cm circular or a longer cable for magic loop) and/or DPNs
• Gear & Notions: BOR stitch marker, tapestry/darning needle, pom pom (optional)
• Gauge: 5¼ stitches over 1 inch in the colorwork pattern after blocking
• Finished Measurements: about 18 (19, 20) inches/45¾ (48¼, 51) cm around, unstretched and after blocking; designed to fit 21 (22, 23)-inch/53 (56, 58½)-cm heads with roughly 3 inches/7½ cm of negative ease

Notes

• This pattern has been tested, but not tech edited.
• For even smaller heads than this pattern is written for, I’ve made some notes on a test version I did using DK weight yarn and size US4 and US5 needles instead of the ones listed in the pattern.
• The largest size has been tested for grading, but the smallest and medium sizes have not. If you would like to knit one of those sizes as a test knit, providing me with updates and information as you go, please send me a message and I’ll be happy to gift you a copy of the pattern.

I’ll be donating a portion of the profits from this pattern, in perpetuity, to the 107ist—a non-profit organization that not only supports Portland’s two soccer teams but also community efforts like the Oregon Food Bank, Friends of Trees, and Operation Pitch Invasion (helping to build and maintain playgrounds and soccer fields around the city). I’m a proud member. Thank you for helping me help them.

2020 donation: $24.50