Striped Watchcap

The snow is dancing outside my windows in the air currents around the house. It's been snowing steadily since morning, and now it's starting to stick. Since snow in February is hardly unusual in New England, I'm stocked with warm things: hot tea, oatmeal cookies, and plenty of yarn.

In the theme of warm things, here is a bulky watchcap that takes advantage of the brioche stitch's quirks to create vertical stripes while carrying one yarn at a time. Well, except for the crown, where it changes to normal rib and you have to carry two yarns, but that's only for four rows.

I used two dk weight yarns, holding four strands of each color at a time. Why? I had them in my stash. You could use a bulky or super bulky yarn and have an easier time of it.

Striped Watchcap
Yarn: 4 skeins of dk weight in each color - main color (MC) and contrasting color (CC).
Needles: #11 dpns
Size: 17" circumference (fits a 22" head nicely)
Gauge: 1.75 sts/in in pattern (7 sts to 4 inches)

Note: slip all stitches purlwise, with yarn in back.

Brioche in the round:
Set up row (MC): * yo, sl 1 wyib, k1 *
1 (MC): * yo, sl 1 wyib, k2tog *
2 (CC): * p2tog, sl 1 wyib, yo *

Cast on 26 stitches, place marker, and join for working in the round.
Do the brioche set up row once in MC.

Work rows 1 and 2 for 11 inches, or more, depending on how much you fold up the brim.

Crown decreases, start after working a row 2:
1: p1 (CC), k2tog (MC)
2: p1 (CC), k1 (MC)
3: p1 (CC), k1 (MC)
4: p1 (CC), k1 (MC)
5: k2tog (MC)
6: k2tog (MC)

Bind off (MC) and weave in ends.

That's it. Just remember to hold the yarn loosely and it should give you a nice, warm hat.