Berroco Valadon Hat Knitting Pattern

Berroco Valadon Knit Hat

What Is Being Made

The Berroco Valadon is an intermediate-level knit hat designed by the Berroco Design Team. This finished hat measures approximately 21 inches around and 8½ inches long (not including earflaps), making it a classic winter accessory with functional ear coverage. The design combines a structured crown with attached earflaps for enhanced warmth and protection.

Construction Techniques

The Valadon hat employs a combination of flat and circular knitting techniques to achieve its finished design. The earflaps are worked flat using the bottom-up method, where stitches are cast on and increased gradually to create the characteristic triangular earflap shape. The main body of the hat is worked in the round using circular needles, which creates a seamless construction that eliminates the need for seaming. The pattern incorporates stranded colorwork, where multiple colors are held and worked simultaneously to create a patterned design across the crown. This seamless, in-the-round construction method ensures a comfortable fit and professional finish.

Stitches and Stitch Techniques

The Valadon utilizes fundamental knitting stitches and shaping techniques appropriate for an intermediate skill level. The base fabric is worked in stockinette stitch (St st), which creates a smooth, classic knit fabric. The earflaps are shaped using make one increases (M1k) worked on right-side rows, creating symmetrical shaping on both sides of each earflap. The colorwork section features a stranded knitting chart that spans 13 rounds and incorporates two contrast colors alongside the main color. When changing colors, the pattern specifically instructs knitters to hold yarn to the left and pick up the new color from underneath, a technique that twists the yarn to prevent holes in the finished fabric. The crown shaping involves decreases as stitches are reduced to close the top of the hat.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Valadon pattern calls for Berroco Mercado yarn, a worsted-weight option offered in three colorways for this design: #4101 Crema (main color), #4106 Nebula (contrast color 1), and #4140 Verda (contrast color 2). One 100-gram hank of each color is required to complete the hat. The pattern specifies a gauge of 16 stitches and 20 rounds over 4 inches in stockinette stitch, which is essential for achieving the correct finished measurements.

The needle requirements include a 16-inch length circular needle in size 9 (5.50 mm) for working the main hat body in the round, and one set of double-pointed needles in the same size 9 (5.50 mm) for working the earflaps flat and potentially for final crown decreases when stitches become too few for the circular needle. Additional notions include one stitch marker for marking the beginning of rounds, two stitch holders for temporarily holding the earflap stitches, and a tapestry needle for weaving in yarn ends.

Pattern Overview

The construction begins with the earflaps, which are made separately using double-pointed needles. Each earflap starts with a small cast-on of 3 stitches and is increased symmetrically over multiple rows until reaching 23 stitches. Once both earflaps are complete, they are held on stitch holders. The hat body is then joined in one piece using a circular needle, incorporating the completed earflaps into the construction by picking up their stitches and casting on additional stitches for the back and front edges to create the full circumference of 80 stitches. After joining for working in the round, the pattern continues with stockinette stitch before introducing the stranded colorwork chart. The colorwork section requires managing three colors simultaneously, with careful attention to color changes to maintain clean transitions. Once the colorwork is complete, the pattern returns to single-color knitting with the main color before shaping the crown with decreases to close the top of the hat.