DIY: Knit Sorrel Hat by Allison Jane

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The Sorrel Hat by Allison Jane is from Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 11: Winter 2014. I have had this gorgeous hat on my to-knit queue for ages, and now I finally cast on! The finished hat is available for sale in our Etsy shop.

I used just over one skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Bluefaced Leicester DK Solids in the Sage colourway. I’ve used this yarn for the custom Classic Ribbed Hat for our Etsy shop. Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) is a breed of longwool sheep developed in England in the late 1800s. It is something of a darling in the fibre world. Although I don’t spin (yet), I hear it’s wonderful to spin into yarn. And as I have found out, it’s also great to knit with!

BFL is soft and has a lovely drape, even though it’s 100% wool. BFL is a lustrous longwool breed, meaning that the yarn catches the light and looks almost shiny. Unfortunately West Yorkshire Spinners discontinued the yarn, but I have a few more skeins in my stash. I hope to knit some more hats for our Etsy shop soon!

I knit the size Large using 3.5 mm needles. This hat is indeed large, and it loosely fits my own large head! This would be a great hat for someone with a large head, or big hair! Next time, however, I will knit the smaller size for more average-sized heads.

I wanted the hat to be somewhat slouchy like in the pattern photos, so I knit four pattern repeats before starting the decreases. You can wear the ribbed hem folded up to be extra warm around your ears. Or you can wear it without the folded brim for a looser fit.

The faux cable pattern is more of a lace, since there are only yarnovers and decreases to knit. The lace pattern is only three rows and seven stitches, so I found it easy to memorize. I’ve seen other knitters on Ravelry omit the yarnovers and add increases in another way so that the hat doesn’t have the somewhat lacey texture. I’d like to try that next time, since the lack of holes will make the hat somewhat warmer, while also giving it a slightly different look.

The Sorrel Hat pattern by Allison Jane is only available in the Pom Pom magazine and only as part of the collection. However, you can buy the digital copy on Ravelry here.