Doulton Hat Knitting Pattern with Size and Colour Variations

Here is the conclusion of my Wovember Hat Project, celebrating 100% wool and resulting in hats all round for my brother and his family this Christmas.  Don't worry, there will be chocolate for them all as well.

After a little sampling, I used the two shades of grey dk Doulton Flock Border Leicester Yarn for the large Doulton Hat, leaving my third, white skein pretty much intact.  Since the autumn storms began, I have had a dish of Evernia prunastri lichen fermenting on the underfloor heating in the bathroom.

Rescuing it from another near miss with himself at his morning ablutions, I decided to dry most of it to keep for later and test out a couple of tablespoons by dyeing the white skein and overdyeing the remainder of the pale grey.  The pink lichen dye turned the grey  a soft dove colour.  After making a small Doulton hat for my neice, who is six years old, I still had plenty of yarn left, so I put it back in the dye bath with another tablespoon of lichen to get deep pink and pinky brown shades.

Doulton Hat Pattern - Large, Medium and Small with Colour Variations

Sizes

                                                      Large              Medium                Small

Finished Hat Circumference        58cm                54cm                     50cm

Finished Hat Depth                       20cm                18.5cm                  17cm

Total Yardage                              170m                158m                     132m

Total Yarn Weight                         77g                      72g                        60g

Yarn = Doulton Flock Border Leicester 100g skeins of double knitting wool = 220m

The method shows the medium and small variations in brackets.

Colour Variations
If you make the hat like the large grey one - one main colour, with only the detail in contrast, you need about 20m of the contrast colour.  If you make the brim in one colour and the body of the hat in the other colour, like the small pale pink one, you need approximately equal amounts of each colour.  

To add a third colour to the lattice pattern, about 10m of yarn are needed to knit rows 5 and 6 of each lattice repeat in the third colour. 

Tension

Knit in stocking stitch on a 4mm circular needle, 20 stitches and 28 rows to 10x10cm.

Method
In Brim Colour, cast on 108 (102, 96) stitches using longtail cast on for elasticity and a neat edge. Leave an extra metre of wool on the long tail for sewing round the brim at the end. Place marker and join to work in the round.
Honeycomb Brim - all stitches are slipped with the yarn in front.

Round 1  Knit
Round 2  *Purl 1, slip 1 purlwise* repeat to end.
Round 3  Knit
Round 4  *slip 1 purlwise, purl 1* repeat to end.

Repeat rounds 1-4 nine (eight, six) times, using Contrast Colour for rounds 3 & 4 of the second set.

If you want to make the brim all stripey, change colours at the start of any knit row.

This stage forms the brim, which will be folded up on itself with the wrong side of the knitting concealed inside.

To start the body of the hat, arrange the knitting so that the wrong side is facing outwards. The last stitch that was knitted will be the first stitch of the next section as you work back in the opposite direction.  If you are using the contrast colour from the brim as the main colour for the body of the hat, remember this is now the yarn to use when Main Colour (MC) is specified.

Set Up Round
In Contrast Colour (CC), purl all the way round back to the marker.

Two Tone Lattice Body - all stitches are slipped with the yarn at the back
Round 1 MC *knit 4, slip 2 purlwise* repeat to end
Round 2 MC as Round 1
Round 3 CC as Round 1
Round 4 CC *Purl 4, slip 2 purlwise* repeat to end.
Round 5 MC Knit 1 *slip 2 purlwise, knit 4* repeat to last three stitches, knit 3.
Round 6 MC as Round 5
Round 7 CC as Round 5
Round 8 CC Purl 1 *slip 2 purlwise, purl 4* repeat to last three stitches, purl 3.

Repeat these 8 rounds three times.  On the fourth set, work rounds 1-6 as given, then carry on using Main Colour to repeat rounds 5 and 6, then finish the patterned section by knitting one plain round.

NB If you have been using a third colour for rounds 5 and 6 within the lattice, on the fourth set, rounds 5 and 6 must be knitted in the Main Colour for the body of the hat.  I found this out the hard way while making the medium hat and had to bodge the reductions into more lattice pattern, which looks alright, but it's not advised, I promise.

Shaping the Crown - all in Main Colour
Decrease Rounds reduce the stitch count by eight stitches as follows
Knit 1, knit 2 together ( knit to 3 stitches before marker, slip 2 stitches knitwise then knit them together, knit 1, slip marker, knit 1, knit 2 together) three times, knit to last 3 stitches, slip 2 stitches knitwise then knit them together.

Large size only

Knit the next round placing a marker every 27 stitches (108). 

Decrease Round, then knit 3 rounds (100)

Decrease Round, then knit 3 rounds (92)
Decrease Round, then knit 3 rounds (84)

Medium size only

Next round knit 1, knit 2 together, place marker when you have 25 stitches on the needle, knit 25 stitches and place next marker, knit 1, knit 2 together place marker when you have 25 stitches from the last marker, knit 25 to round marker. (100)

Decrease Round, then knit 2 rounds (92)
Decrease Round, then knit 2 rounds (84)

Small size only

Knit the next round placing a marker every 24 stitches (96). 

Next round, *knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to marker, slip marker* repeat four times (92)

Knit round.
Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (84)

All sizes

Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (76)
Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (68)
Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (60)

Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (52)

Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (44)
Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (36)
Decrease Round, then knit 1 round (28)
Decrease Round, removing markers except the first (20)
Knit 2 together 10 times, break yarn and thread it on a needle, pass it through the remaining 10 stitches, pull tight and fasten off.

Use the long tail of yarn at the begining of the work to sew, very loosely, the back of the contrast colour row in the brim to the set up row of the lattice pattern, which secures the turn up of the brim.

Machine wash at 30 degrees on a wool cycle with a wool washing liquid and block lightly while drying.

I bought 300g of yarn, I've knitted three hats for my brother, sister-in-law and niece, so by my calculations, there should be plenty left to make another for my nephew.  Only it will probably have a lot of dark grey stripes and maybe I should overdye the pink to a more acceptable bloke's colour.  No good being right on and gender neutral if he never wears it.

Do you think four year olds take notice of such things?

Afterword

Here is Robin's hat, with the original greys used on the brim and the pink shades overdyed with dyers' chamomile.  I think it came out best of all. Four hats from three skeins of wool - what a bargain.