I improvised this design and used leftover bits of Noro Silk Garden that remained form several other projects. It is intended to fit a 6 yr old girl.

I thought I would be able to combine all my Silk Garden leftovers and create an appealing color combination - just as nice or nicer than the currently available Noro color ways. I am knocking out a bunch of hats for Christmas presents - everybody in my family gets a new hat for Xmas - and I see no reason not to use every single bit of these appealing and expensive yarns. I hate wasting 2/3 of a ball of Silk Garden left over from buying 2 balls of a certain color to make a hat! I had a whole bag of left over Silk Garden in different misc. color ways.

So, I arranged the yarn on a tray and cast on 72 stitches on a #8 US needle and began knitting. I created a stripe of one color, then added another one, I made a ridge or two, then did an eyelet section, then some more stripes, or ridges, changing, at random, to whatever I felt looked good next.

I did take out a few sections and redo them if I was not happy with the way they looked after knitting them in. The hat is a funnel shape, a sort of stocking cap shape. After knitting that I decided it looked stupid, so I folded it over to the back and pinned the top down in the middle of the back of the head with a colored safety pin concealed inside the hat. This will allow the hat to be worn two ways - as a traditional stocking cap shaped hat or as a Fold Down Fez, the way I have styled it for my photos!

The Fold Down Fez shape needed something unique to decorate the back so I fashioned a sort of modified tassle/corsage which I made out of fleece, yarn bits, net ribbon and a green velvet leaf. I pinned this to the back of the hat where a tassel would have gone traditionally.

Now I am quite pleased with the effect!

I have recently been researching the Ballets Russes for something I am writing and I wanted to do a knitted soft Fez shape with a definite Leon Bakst costume feel to it. The colors and the shape remind me of this. I think it turned out quite well! I wanted a soft hat, not a felted fez.

The colors are randomly mixed from Noro Silk Garden colors - mainly purples, wines, blues, teals, and greens. Some of the greens include yellowish tones which photograph lighter than they appear in person.

This was a very fast project. It took me just a few hours and now that I have done it once and worked out the bugs I could do it faster.

I knit this on single point needles and seamed it up the back. It could also be knitted in the round. I only used straight needles because my circular hat needles and double points were in use on another project.

To make the hat for an adult just cast on a few more stitches. I worked it at 4.5 stitches per inch - the typical Silk Garden/ aran gauge. I would measure the head you intend to make it for and multiply the inches you want by 4.5 to figure out how many stitches to cast on for an adult. I go for slight negative ease so the hats stay put.

I knit an 8” long panel, then began decreasing as I cont. to work in stockinette, to get the stocking cap shape. The fact that I was running out of yarn influenced me to do this! when I was down to 9 stitches I pulled the yarn through them to close up the hat at the top and end it. Then I just sewed up the seam in the back, folded the tip over and pinned it in place as described above. This is a very easy design!

I will make it again then write it up for beginning knitters. It is a good project for children to make for themselves! Note: No ribbing! No circular or dbl/ pointed needles to manage. Very easy to fit!

Skills needed would be casting on, knit, purl, casting off,
sewing a simple seam……

I am currently interested in developing some patterns very young kids can make easily. This idea is a definite good one!