Slouchy, squashy and warm. This is my perfect winter hat. A straightforward slouchy brioche hat with an attractive swirly swirly detail at the crown, perfect for brioche newbies.

The simple design is great for showcasing colourful or unusual yarns. See my test knitters’ projects for inspiration on yarn choices.

The hat uses two aran/worsted weight yarns. Yardage requirements are:
Colour A - 65-100 yards/60-91m
Colour B - 49-95 yards/45-86m

The sample is a size medium and uses less than one ball of each colour.

Size information

Sizes: Baby (Toddler/Child, Teen/Adult Small, Adult Medium, Adult Large)

To fit head size: 16 (18, 20, 22, 24) inches/40 (46, 50, 56, 60) cm

If between sizes it is better to choose the smaller size as this hat has a lot of stretch, then add additional length if required.

A note on yarn choices

The original sample uses two discontinued yarns. Colour A is Rowan Lima, a chainette alpaca and merino blend, and colour B is Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran. Suggested substitutions are listed below:

Yarn A: Fuzzy yarns with a chainette texture will most resemble the original design, for example Drops Sky, Juniper Moon Farms Stratus, Valley Yarns Peru, Lang Yarns Luna, Mirasol Sisa, and so on. However any yarn that works to a worsted/aran gauge may be substituted. If substituting a plied yarn for the chainette yarn, be mindful of yardage as chainette yarns tend to have more yards per ball than plied yarns.

Yarn B: Any Aran weight yarn may be substituted. The closest matches are yarns like Millamia naturally soft Aran, Katia Merino Sport, Filaturia Di Crosa Zara 8, Patons Merino Extrafine Aran, and Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 85.