Swans Island Picot Hat Knitting Pattern

Swans Island Picot Hat

What is Being Made

The Picot Hat is a feminine, winter knit hat featuring decorative bobbles along the edge and a charming sprig accent on top. This one-size hat is designed to add visual interest to cold-weather wardrobes with its cute, playful construction. The finished hat measures 20 inches in circumference and 7 inches in depth, making it a standard adult fit.

Techniques Used

This intermediate-level hat employs several key knitting techniques to create its distinctive appearance. The hat is worked seamlessly in the round using circular needles and double-pointed needles, eliminating the need for seaming. The construction begins with a bottom-up approach, starting from the cast-on edge and working upward toward the crown. Lace work features prominently in the design through eyelet patterning, which creates small decorative holes that add feminine elegance. The hat also incorporates bobble stitches at the edge for textural detail and finishes with an I-cord sprig on top, a decorative cord structure created using double-pointed needles.

Stitches Used

The Picot Hat utilizes a focused set of fundamental stitches combined with specialty techniques:

• Knit (k) and purl (p) stitches form the foundation of the stockinette sections and pattern rows
• Yarn over (yo) creates the eyelet openings that characterize the lace pattern
• Knit two together (k2tog) decreases stitches and pairs with yarn overs to form the eyelet motif
• Make bobble (MB) creates the cute little bobbles adorning the hat edge through a specialized technique involving knitting into the front, back, front, and back of a single stitch (kfbfb), then passing stitches over to form a dimensional bobble
• Slip stitch (sl) appears in pattern instructions
• I-cord construction for the top sprig, worked back and forth on double-pointed needles with a sliding technique to create a tubular cord

Eyelet Pattern Details

The eyelet pattern is worked in the round over a 10-round repeat. The pattern alternates between purl rounds, knit rounds, and the signature eyelet round where yarn overs paired with knit two-together decreases create the lace effect. This rhythmic pattern of purl, knit, yarn over with decreases, knit, purl, then five rounds of stockinette repeats to build the decorative lace section before transitioning into the shaped stockinette crown.

Materials

The Picot Hat requires minimal yardage, utilizing one skein of Swans Island Natural Colors 100% Organic Merino Wool in worsted weight. Each skein provides 250 yards and weighs 100 grams, offering sufficient yardage for the complete project. The pattern shown features the colorway YW205 Teal. Construction requires US size 8 (5 mm) needles—specifically a 16-inch circular needle for the main body and two double-pointed needles for the I-cord sprig. A stitch marker and yarn needle complete the essential tools needed.

Gauge and Fit

The pattern specifies a gauge of 4.5 stitches by 11 rounds per inch when worked in the eyelet pattern. Checking gauge before beginning is emphasized as important for achieving the desired finished fit. The hat begins with a cast-on of 90 stitches and is blocked to the finished dimensions of 20 inches circumference and 7 inches depth.

Pattern Design and Skill Level

Designed by Stacey McCrea Warner, the Picot Hat is rated as an intermediate project, appropriate for knitters with foundational skills who are ready to work with circular needles, manage lace patterns, and execute specialty stitches like bobbles and I-cord. The pattern emphasizes that the hat is an interesting and portable project that is fun to make and wear, combining straightforward stockinette shaping with the visual interest of lace and textural embellishments.