Mount Temple Hat

Mount Temple Hat by Corrine Walcher

What Is Being Made

The Mount Temple Hat is a winter knit hat designed by Corrine Walcher featuring a distinctive cable-knit hem. This intermediate-level project creates a finished hat with approximately 21 inches of circumference that stretches to roughly 23 inches, making it a versatile fit for most adult head sizes. The design draws inspiration from Mount Temple, an imposing mountain that overlooks Lake Louise in Alberta's Banff National Park.

Construction and Techniques

The Mount Temple Hat employs a deceptively simple yet elegant construction method. The pattern begins by knitting a cable hem, then joining the two ends of this hem section together. Once the hem is complete, stitches are picked up from the joined edge to begin working the crown of the hat. This approach creates a seamless integration between the decorative cable band and the main body of the hat. The cables themselves are described as disappearing and subtle, wrapping around the hem to provide visual interest without overwhelming the design.

Knitting is worked in the round throughout the project, which is a fundamental technique for hat construction. This method eliminates the need for seaming and creates a continuous, tubular fabric ideal for fitted headwear.

Stitches Used

The Mount Temple Hat incorporates several essential knitting stitches and techniques:

• Knit (K): The fundamental stitch used throughout the stockinette sections
• Purl (P): Used to create texture and definition in the pattern
• Knit two together (K2tog): A decrease stitch for shaping the crown
• 2/2 Left Cable (2/2 LC): Slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front, knit 2 stitches, then knit the 2 stitches from the cable needle
• 2/2 Right Cable (2/2 RC): Slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back, knit 2 stitches, then knit the 2 stitches from the cable needle

These cable stitches create the distinctive twisted rope-like pattern that wraps around the hat's hem. Cable knitting involves temporarily holding stitches on a cable needle while working other stitches, then working the held stitches in a different order to create the characteristic crossed appearance.

Materials and Gauge

The Mount Temple Hat pattern specifies Dragonfly Fibers Traveller yarn, a 100% superwash merino wool available in 280-yard skeins weighing 4 ounces. The project requires approximately 130 yards of yarn, making it an efficient use of materials. The yarn weight is suitable for both DK and worsted weights, offering some flexibility in yarn selection.

Needles required include a 16-inch circular needle and a set of 5 double-pointed needles, or an alternative preferred method for knitting in the round, sized US 5 (3.75 mm) or adjusted to obtain proper gauge. The specified gauge is 20 stitches and 28 rows per 4 inches when blocked in stockinette stitch worked in the round. Achieving this gauge is essential for the hat to fit correctly at the intended finished circumference.

Pattern copyright 2019 by Corrine Walcher. Commercial sale or duplication of this pattern is not permitted.