Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather Brioche Hat by Tudor Time Treasures

Project Overview

The Birds of a Feather is an adult-sized knitted brioche hat designed by T M Harrison in 2017. This intermediate-level knitting project creates a sophisticated, textured hat using brioche knitting techniques. The pattern demonstrates advanced stitch work suitable for knitters with foundational skills who are ready to explore more complex construction methods.

What Is Being Made

This is a full-coverage adult brioche hat featuring a turned brim construction that creates a double-thick edge for warmth and structure. The hat showcases brioche knitting, a reversible technique that produces an elegant, dimensional fabric with a distinctive appearance on both sides. The finished garment is designed to be worn with the brioche texture prominently displayed.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Brioche knitting: The primary technique featured in this pattern, creating lifted stitches that produce a luxurious, reversible fabric with excellent elasticity and visual interest
• Provisional cast-on: Uses waste yarn to create a temporary cast-on edge that can be picked up later, allowing the brim to be joined seamlessly to live stitches
• Circular knitting: Worked in the round using circular needles and double-pointed needles to create a seamless crown
• Ribbed edging: 1x1 ribbing creates the brim foundation, providing structure and elasticity
• Decreasing: Crown shaping accomplished through strategic decreases to taper the hat to its top

Stitches Used

• Brioche stitch: The signature stitch creating the textured, dimensional fabric throughout the hat body
• 1x1 ribbing: Used for the brim section, alternating knit and purl stitches for elasticity and definition
• Knit stitch: Used in the joining technique where live stitches are knitted together with provisional cast-on stitches

Materials and Tools

Yarn: The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, specifically Malabrigo Worsted in two colors—Applewood (dark color) and Pearl (light color). However, the pattern is adaptable to any worsted weight yarn in your preferred color combinations, making it versatile for personal customization.

Needles: US size 7/4.5mm circular needles measuring 16 inches, plus matching US size 7/4.5mm double-pointed needles (DPNs) for crown decreasing when stitches become too few for circular needles.

Additional supplies: Waste yarn of similar thickness to the project yarn for the provisional cast-on, and stitch markers to track round beginnings.

Construction Details

The hat begins with a provisional cast-on of 96 stitches using waste yarn, with 86 stitches picked up from the fifth stitch onward for the actual project. The brim is worked in 1x1 ribbing for approximately four inches or to the desired length. The distinctive construction involves unzipping the provisional cast-on stitches one at a time and knitting them together with the live stitches, creating a seamless, reversible joined edge. This technique allows the brim to be turned and folded, resulting in a double-thick, finished appearance that adds both warmth and professional polish to the completed hat.