Blue Sky Fibers Selby Tam Hat Knitting Pattern

Blue Sky Fibers Selby Tam: Lightweight Knit Hat with Stranded Snowflake Crown

What Is Being Made

The Selby Tam is a versatile, lightweight knit hat designed by Mary Pranica. This intermediate-level project creates a cap that can be styled two ways: knit up and blocked flat for a slouchy silhouette, or blocked over a plate to showcase the stunning snowflake-patterned crown as a traditional tam. The finished hat measures 19 inches in circumference at the brim with an 8½-inch height, fitting comfortably as a one-size design.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive look and construction:

• Worked in the Round: The Selby Tam is constructed seamlessly using circular needles, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a polished, professional finish.
• Bottom-Up Construction: The hat begins with a cast-on at the brim and is worked upward toward the crown, allowing you to try on the hat as you progress and adjust fit if needed.
• Stranded Colorwork: The crown features a two-color stranded knitting technique, where two yarn colors are carried across the rounds to create the intricate snowflake pattern. This traditional Fair Isle-style technique adds visual interest and depth to the finished hat.
• Seamless Shaping: Strategic decreases are incorporated into the pattern to shape the crown, with a notable decrease round at row 42 that reduces the pattern repeats from seven to six, smoothly transitioning the colorwork into the final crown shaping.

Stitches Used

The Selby Tam utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined in strategic ways:

• Corrugated Rib Pattern: The brim is worked in a corrugated rib pattern using both colors (rounds 1-8), which creates vertical texture and helps the hat maintain its shape and elasticity at the edge.
• Stockinette Stitch: The main body of the hat is worked in stockinette stitch, providing a smooth canvas for the stranded colorwork pattern.
• Knit Increases and Decreases: The pattern includes a make-one increase (m1) on round 9 to expand from 136 stitches to 168 stitches, establishing the proper stitch count for the crown pattern repeats. Knit-two-together (k2tog) decreases are worked throughout the 64-round crown chart to shape the tam.
• Stranded Colorwork Chart: Rounds 1-64 of the Tam Chart guide the two-color stranded pattern that creates the snowflake motif across the crown.

Materials

Yarn: The Selby Tam is designed to be knit with Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Light in fingering weight. This yarn is composed of 100% Fine Highland Wool and offers 218 yards per 50-gram hank. The pattern requires two hanks total—one hank each of two coordinating colors. The color combination shown in the pattern features Midnight Sea (No. 2317) as Color A and Morning Frost (No. 2324) as Color B. A useful feature of the pattern is that two hanks will create two complete hats, either in the same colorway or with the colors reversed for the second hat.

Needles: The pattern calls for size 3 (3.25mm) needles in two configurations. A 16-inch to 24-inch circular needle is used for the initial brim and body work, with the needle size selected to achieve the specified gauge. Double-pointed needles in the same size are introduced when stitches no longer fit comfortably on the circular needle during the crown decreases, allowing you to continue working in the round as the stitch count diminishes.

Additional Tools: A stitch marker is needed to mark the beginning of the round, and a tapestry needle is essential for weaving in yarn ends and closing the crown opening at the completion of the hat.

Gauge and Sizing

The pattern specifies a gauge of 29 stitches and 35 rounds over 4 inches in stockinette stitch, measured after blocking. Achieving this gauge is important for obtaining the correct finished measurements. The Selby Tam is offered in one size with a finished circumference of 19 inches at the brim.