This is called “two-and-a-half layers thick”because it has a full outer layer (the outer elf-shaped shell) and an inner layer of two-color knitting, which I always think of as being 1 1/2 layers thick, due to the floats. I personally need a very warm hat to protect my ears, and this sort of hat provides that.

The hat begins with a single-layer edging, but--because the edging rolls--the edging is actually double-layer also.

Outer shell: CO 120 sts on 16” circ. Make a rolled cuff as long as you want (mine is 12 round high). work stipes in maroon alternating with green, each stripe being: Purl 1 round--knit 3 rounds, p1 round.

I used a variety of different methods to disguise the jog at the round ends--all to be found on my blog.

Work to desired height, measuring from first purled round, and remembering that there is a very thick lining to come, so make it higher than you think. Place 8 evenly spaced markers. Decrease outer shell (elf hat) every third round by k2tog’ing before every marker. Switch to dpn’s as required. Bind off when 8 sts remain--there will be a little volcano-hole at the top.

For three-stranded topper “tassel,” make a little I cord, somewhat more than twice as long as wanted. Bind off, knot both ends--this shortens the cord to the final length. Somewhere off the middle of this (so you don’t get all strands the same length), pick up three sts out of the fabric of the cord, and work a third cord to desired length, again knotting the end. (The finished assembly should look like an upside-down “T” with an off-center stem--and to my taste, none of the three legs of the T should be the same length.) Insert the base of this little topper (ie: fold to where the third strand was picked up) through the volcano-hole at the top of the outer shell and fasten in place by sewing the base down using unobtrusive stitches, yarn in the hat color, and a sharp needle. You wind up aith a little three-pronged jet of I cord erupting through the volcano-hole at the top of the hat. You could make it 5 armed if so inclined.

Inner shell From the inside, and using your smallest thinnest circ (size 1 is good) pick up the heads of the stitches of the first knit row on the inside (which is the first purled row on the outside). Pick up so the base of the sts will be hidden inside the hat, and the fabric appears to grow smoothy out of the rolled cuff. (bottom pic). (Using the size 5 needle) I knitted through the picked-up stitch heads which were on the size 1 circular, working in a pattern of K3 color A, K3 color B. I wanted a spiral, rather than stripes, so I decreased away one stitch unobtrusively because working alternating K3 stripes on one stitch LESS than a full repeat of the pattern (so: repeat of k6+5) makes the stripes spiral to the L.

After pick-up, knit inner shell on same needlesand to same gauge as outer shell. Due to the structure of knitted fabric, the texture pattern of the outer shell actually stretches more than the stockinette of the hat top (has a wider stitch gauge) and this stretchy facric accomodates the bulk of the inner lining to come, making the hat quite a bit looser around the ears than it would be if the entire outer shell were knitted in stockinette. (If you don’t like the look of the textured stripes, and prefer an all-stockinette shell, then I would suggest knitting the outer shell in a needle size LARGER than the inner shell.)

Where I wanted the stripes to change slant (chevron) I had to add two stitches (one in a maroon stripe, one in a green stripe because working alternating K3 stripes on one stitch MORE than a full repeat (repeat of k6+7)makes the stripes spiral to the R.

Work until you have 1-2 rows less than the # of rows before you began the outer shell decrease, switch to single-color stockinette. (I personally would be too hot, and find the hat too stiff if the two-color knitting went all the way to the crown on the hat. It’s the ears I want super-warm, not so much the top of my head.) Place 8 makers. Work decreases as for outer shell, but working a decrease every seccond row, instead of every third. When four decreases remain, switch to smaller needles--I used size 3. When 8 sts remain, graft top shut.

Finishing is pretty much zero. No need to finish off any yarns on the inside--run them in so they don’t loosen over time, but otherwise, the ends are trapped between the two shells forever and no one will ever see them.

Took less than one skein of each color, although the maroon was nearly used up.

Bottom photo shows most accurate color.