Valley Yarns Herriot Hat Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Herriot Hat

What Is Being Made

The Herriot Hat is a soft and warm knitted hat designed by Kirsten Hipsky, featuring a distinctive tweedy slipped stitch pattern in rich earth tones. Available in three finished sizes—18, 20, and 22 inches—this hat combines visual texture with practical warmth, making it suitable for countryside-inspired styling. The design showcases how slipped stitch colorwork can create sophisticated texture without requiring complex stitch manipulation.

Techniques Used

This hat is worked using several key knitting techniques that build upon foundational skills:

• Worked in the Round: The hat is constructed seamlessly using circular needles or double-pointed needles, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a continuous tube of fabric.
• Bottom-Up Construction: The hat begins at the ribbed brim and progresses upward toward the crown, allowing knitters to try on the hat as it develops.
• Stripes and Colorwork: Three colors of yarn—Chocolate, Fawn, and Natural—are introduced in a repeating 12-round pattern to create the tweedy slipped stitch effect without the complexity of traditional Fair Isle or intarsia techniques.
• Crown Shaping: Strategic decreases using the slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over (sl1-k2tog-psso) technique shape the crown, with decreases worked at marked intervals to create an even, fitted finish.
• Seamless Construction: By working in the round from start to finish, the hat requires no seaming, resulting in a smooth, comfortable wear experience.

Stitches Used

The Herriot Hat employs a limited but effective stitch vocabulary appropriate for advanced beginner knitters:

• Knit Stitch (k): The primary stitch used throughout the hat, creating stockinette fabric in solid color rounds.
• Purl Stitch (p): Used only in the initial ribbing at the brim, creating the classic 2x2 rib texture that provides stretch and recovery.
• Slipped Stitch with Yarn in Front (sl1wyif): Stitches slipped with yarn held in front of the work, creating texture and contributing to the tweedy appearance without requiring the stitch to be worked.
• Slipped Stitch with Yarn in Back (sl1wyib): Stitches slipped with yarn held in back of the work, offering an alternative slipped stitch technique that varies the visual effect.
• Slip 1, Knit 2 Together, Pass Slipped Stitch Over (sl1-k2tog-psso): A centered double decrease used during crown shaping to reduce stitches evenly and symmetrically.

Materials and Gauge

The Herriot Hat is designed to be worked with Valley Yarns Amherst, a 100% merino wool yarn offering softness and breathability. Each finished hat requires one 50-gram skein each of three colorways: Chocolate (Color A), Fawn (Color B), and Natural (Color C). This modest yardage requirement—approximately 109 yards per color—makes the project economical and accessible.

Two needle sizes are required to achieve proper gauge and fit:

• US Size 6 (4.00mm) needles: 16-inch circular or double-pointed needles used for the ribbed cuff, which creates a snug, elastic edge.
• US Size 8 (5.00mm) needles: 16-inch circular and/or double-pointed needles used for the main body and crown, allowing the fabric to relax into the proper gauge.

The target gauge is 4.5 stitches and 9 rounds per 1 inch when working the main stitch pattern in the round. Achieving this gauge is essential for proper fit across all three sizes. Additional materials include four stitch markers to denote crown shaping decrease points.

Construction Overview

The hat begins with a cast-on of 80, 88, or 96 stitches (depending on size) using the smaller needles and Chocolate yarn. After working 1.5 inches of 2x2 ribbing, knitters transition to the larger needles and begin the 12-round repeating main stitch pattern. This pattern alternates solid knit rounds with slipped stitch rounds in each of