These little sheep are ready for anything as they stand at attention around the base of this beanie.
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The Inspiration
A while back on this blog, I raved about the Alterknit Stitch Dictionary. Recently I was in the middle of planning for a new class I’m teaching at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and I was looking for a small project to work on while I think of new ideas for classes. I remembered these little sheep from the book, and knew they’d be perfect.
About the Yarn
Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed is a lightweight wool blend with a bit of loft, like a traditional Shetland-style yarn. It’s 50% wool, 25% alpaca, 25% mixed fiber.
Each 50 g ball of Kingston Tweed has 194 yards [177 m]. It took me about 150 yards of the main color and a total of about 35 yards of the contrasting color for one hat. I used some leftover colors from another project: less than one skein of #105 Ochre (MC) and #112 Basalt (CC).
About the Construction
Knit the hat in the round from the bottom up. Use circulars and double-points, or the Magic Loop method, whichever you prefer.
It’s a great way to use up odd balls of leftover yarn and a fun and easy way to practice stranded knitting. There are only two colors on the stranded sections, and the patterns themselves are simple. The colorwork ends before the crown shaping begins.
Watch How to Work Stranded or Fair Isle Knitting for tips on holding one color in each hand for faster knitting.
About the Pattern
You’ll be using a chart for the colorwork. The interactive pdf includes links to tutorials for the Magic Loop and for stranded/Fair Isle knitting techniques. The pattern has been test knit and professionally tech edited.
Please share images of your #SimpleSheepHat on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Let’s see those sheepies!
