Ever since the release of the Swainby Cowl, I have had a matching hat design in my head. You might be surprised at how much work a seemingly simple hat design requires! It's taken lots of tweaking but we are finally all sorted I think.
Where the Swainby Cowl was made for three fingering weight yarns, this hat has been designed with one skein of aran weight yarn in mind but you can of course use three fingering weight yarns held together for this project as well if you fancy it.
This hat is a simple number which just has a really nice texture to it. It’s designed to be a close fit but the fabric is really stretchy so it will fit a wide range of sizes. The larger size is a wider circumference but due to the stretchy fabric this means you don’t necessarily need more length on the hat too, so the number of row repeats is fewer. Please bear this in mind when choosing the size. You can very easily adapt it by adding more or fewer row repeats, and you could make it slouchy by adding lots more.
Development samples
Brimham Aran in Ash
Brimham Aran in White Iris
Keld Aran in Black Magic Rose
Pendle Aran in Pumpkin Seeds
Tester samples
As always our testers did a fantastic job and we are really grateful for their time. They have tried many different yarn and colour combinations and all were fantastic.
Alison used Pendle Aran in Starling and made the L/XL size.
ECY's own Claire used 54g of Pendle Aran in Woodpile.
Dawn used Brimham Aran in Starling and made the S/M size and used 48g of yarn.
"Really quick to knit up and fits my 21cm head perfectly but would easily fit bigger."
"I knit this up in super quick time. This would be a fantastic beginner hat."
Elizabeth D made two samples, both in the L/XL size. The first was Pendle DK in Almost Alice (renamed now as Thicket) with Eldwick Lace in a Cottage Original batch. It weighs 57g which is made up of 46g Pendle DK and 11g of Eldwick Lace.
"Very quick knit, lovely pattern"
The second sample was Oakworth DK Tarn held double with Eldwick Lace in Campanula and Oakworth DK Whirlpool with Eldwick Lace in Robin Egg. This hat weighs 63g but the individual yarns were not weighed.
This is Elizabeth P's version.
"Lovely little pattern, knitted over two evenings. Ideal pattern for a beginner learning to knit in the round. Really enjoyed knitting this."
Fiona used Brimham Aran in Starling to make the L/XL. She used 41g of yarn.
Johanna used 51g of an acrylic yarn from her stash to make the L/XL size.
Lisa used a strand of Lowther Lace held with two strands of alpaca/silk/cashmere 4ply yarn and made the small size.
"It was a very quick knit and the pattern was easy to follow. The resulting hat is soft and lush, matching the cowl perfectly. I wear my cowl all the time (seasonally 
) and am certain I'll do the same with the hat. Already planning to knit up sets for gifting."
If you have a Swainby Hat that you would like to share with us do send us an email with the details and an image to info@edencottageyarns.co.uk and we will include it.