Ollaberry

Ollaberry Knit Hat by Kate Heppell

What is Being Made

The Ollaberry is a knitted hat designed by Kate Heppell featuring colorwork in a close-fitting style. This intermediate-level knitting project produces a finished hat with a circumference of 44, 47, or 50 centimeters and a height of 23 centimeters, offering three size options to accommodate different head measurements.

Knitting Techniques Used

This hat employs stranded colorwork knitting, a technique where multiple yarn colors are carried across the fabric to create patterned designs. The Ollaberry uses a structured approach with three distinct charted sections: a Brim chart, a Body chart, and a Crown chart, each contributing to the hat's overall construction. The crown is shaped using decreases to create the fitted top of the hat, with a central double decrease (cdd) stitch used for shaping. The hat is worked in the round using circular needles or the magic loop method, and is finished by threading yarn through remaining stitches and pulling tight to fasten.

Stitches and Stitch Details

• Stockinette stitch (St st): The primary stitch used throughout the hat, measured at a tension of 24 stitches by 30 rows over 10 centimeters
• Knit 2 together (K2tog): A right-leaning decrease used in shaping the crown
• Central double decrease (cdd): A specialized decrease stitch used for structured crown shaping
• Stranded colorwork: Multiple colors worked into the fabric following charted patterns across the brim, body, and crown sections

Materials: Yarn and Needles

Yarn: The Ollaberry is designed to be knitted in Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, a 4-ply yarn spun from 100% Shetland wool. One 25-gram ball (105 meters) of each color is required: Emerald 792 (dark green), Laurel 329 (light green), Petrol 750 (dark blue), Sky 130 (light blue), Scarlet 500 (red), and Salmon 301 (pink). The 4-ply weight provides a lightweight, breathable fabric suitable for a close-fitting hat.

Needles: The pattern calls for 3.25mm circular needles measuring 40 centimeters in length. Alternatively, if not using the magic loop method, double-pointed needles (DPNs) of the same 3.25mm size are required for working the crown decreases.

Finishing

After completing all charted sections and securing the crown, the hat is finished by weaving in all yarn ends, then washing and blocking to set the stitches and even out the colorwork.