The first in a mini-collection of hat patterns, entitled In Celebration of Variation, designed to show off the colours in a beautifully variegated yarn without being overwhelmed by it. This pattern is worked in the wonderful moss stitch. Mosses are a fascinating and valuable category of plants, used at times as insulation, in wound dressing, as packaging materials, and indirectly as the main constituent of peat. Mosses retain water amazingly and shelter a wide range of invertebrates. I love them. And I love moss stitch too for its texture and its ability to break up and blend colours. (If you use American terminology you might call this stitch seed stitch instead. It will still work just as well .)

You will need two yarns- one variegated yarn and one solid or semi-solid that either coordinates or contrasts with your variegated yarn depending on the effect you prefer. Stitch counts are provided for DK, worsted and Aran yarns and one weight difference between your two yarns should work fine- moss stitch is very well behaved and forgiving I find.

Like mosses, this pattern has plenty of possible variations depending on the effect you like best with your yarn.