I improvised this hat to use up the leftovers from A Hat of His Own and Andraste. The prudent thing would have been to knit it from the top down, but after weighing the two hats and the remaining yarn, I was confident that I’d have exactly enough yarn to create a hat of the same dimensions as my last one.

Rather than make yet another striped thing, I decided to attempt stranded colorwork for the first time. Small canvas + leftover yarn + no money spent on a pattern = low stakes. I knit with one color in each hand. Hilariously, though the copper is the non-dominant color, and therefore should have smaller, less pronounced stitches, because it was held in my weaker right hand (I knit continental) the stitches are as large or larger than the ostensibly dominant blue-green stitches.

Despite my ungainly colorwork technique, this hat practically fell off the needles.

The “pattern” goes like this:

1. With US 4, using the long-tail method, cast on 112 stitches in MC. Use the 3-in-1 TECHjoin to create a snug, jogless join; mark the beginning of the round.
2. Knit 16 rounds in 2x2 ribbing. On the last round, slip the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches to prevent oversized stitches at the transition from ribbing to stockinette.
3. Switch to US 7 and knit 8 rounds of stockinette. On the last round, immediately before the marker, m1.
4. Knit 22 rounds of k1 MC, k1 CC
5. Knit 4 rounds of stockinette in MC. On the last round, place a marker every 14 stitches for a total of 8 markers (the last section will have 15 stitches). Stop before knitting the last stitch before the beginning-of-round marker.
6. Slip the next 2 stitches together knitwise (removing the round marker), knit 1, pass the 2 slipped stitches over; this creates a centered double decrease (CDD). Knit to one stitch before the next marker and repeat the steps for a CDD; repeat to the end of round, being careful not to do another CDD at the beginning-of-round marker. 16 stitches decreased.
7. Knit 1 round in stockinette.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 three more times, for a total of four decrease rounds.
9. Break yarn and thread through remaining 17 stitches.