Bassett Hat in Rowan Moordale - ZB297-00014-UK - Downloadable PDF

Bassett Hat by Martin Storey – Rowan Moordale Fair Isle Knitting Pattern (ZB297-00014-UK)

The Bassett Hat is a beautifully crafted colourwork knitted hat designed by Martin Storey for Rowan. Published in 2021, this pattern is rated advanced in skill level and is available as a downloadable PDF. It showcases a classic Fair Isle colourwork design worked in the round, making it an excellent project for experienced knitters looking to practise stranded colourwork techniques in a compact, wearable format.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a fitted colourwork hat worked entirely in the round from the brim upward, featuring a repeating Fair Isle motif across the body and a shaped crown. The finished hat measures approximately 23 cm in depth before the crown shaping begins, making it a generously sized, cosy beanie-style hat suitable for adults.

Colourways

The pattern offers two colourway options, both using Rowan Moordale yarn in DK weight:

• Main Colourway: Yarn A – Pepper 002, Yarn B – Blue Moor 008, Yarn C – Ash 010
• Alternative Colourway: Yarn A – Pepper 002, Yarn B – Pea 021, Yarn C – French Navy 016

Each colourway requires one 100g ball of each shade, giving knitters flexibility to choose between a cool, neutral palette or a more contrasting, bold combination. The use of three colours creates a rich, layered Fair Isle effect across the hat body.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern is specifically designed for Rowan Moordale, a DK weight yarn. Moordale is a Rowan yarn known for its warmth and stitch definition, making it particularly well suited to colourwork projects where clarity of pattern is important. Each of the three colours requires 1 x 100g ball, so the total yarn requirement is modest and the project is achievable from a small stash.

Needles

The pattern calls for two sets of double-pointed needles worked in the round:

• 3.25mm (no 10 / US 3) double-pointed needles – used for the ribbed brim
• 4mm (no 8) double-pointed needles – used for the main body and crown shaping

Double-pointed needles are the traditional tool for knitting small circumferences in the round, such as hat crowns, and are essential for achieving the seamless, circular construction this pattern requires.

Techniques Used

• Fair Isle (stranded colourwork): The central technique of this pattern. Fair Isle involves carrying two or more yarn colours across each round, knitting with one colour at a time while the others are stranded loosely across the wrong side of the fabric. The pattern instructs knitters to use the fairisle technique as described on the information page, ensuring even tension across the floats is maintained throughout.
• Knitting in the round: The entire hat is worked in the round on double-pointed needles, producing a seamless fabric with no purling required in the colourwork section.
• Stocking stitch in the round (knit every round): The Fair Isle chart section is worked entirely in stocking stitch, meaning every round is knitted. This is standard practice for colourwork knitting in the round.
• Crown shaping with decreases: Once the colourwork section is complete, the hat transitions to a single yarn and is shaped at the crown using K2tog (knit two together) decrease rounds interspersed with plain knit rounds, gradually reducing the stitch count to close the top of the hat neatly.

Stitches Used

• Knit stitch (K) – the foundation of the stocking stitch body and colourwork section
• K2tog (knit two together) – a right-leaning