Part of Wool Theory: A Continuation of the Anchored Pattern
Wool Theory is a periodic series on knitting and related craft featuring free patterns, tools, and resources.
Back in June I shared the Anchored pattern, a very simple all-over ribbed beanie that has either a deep folded brim as a fitted hat or can be worn slouchy with the brim unfolded.
If you just want the pattern; here’s a handy download link. The pattern is also available on Ravelry where you can save it to your Rav library.
I’ve knit a number of Anchored hats over the last few months. The name is not entirely a tribute to living in Rhode Island and the water, coastline, and nautical features that make this state so gorgeous. The name is also because I found this pattern extremely meditative. Allowing my hands to be busy knitting this simple pattern has been soothing through challenging and stressful moments. But every single one I’ve knit has been a solid color. And I realized a few days ago that this hat is a perfect pallete for striping and color blocking.
So I’ve played around and want to supplement the pattern with advice on striping or color blocking the Anchored pattern.
I first wanted to knit a color blocked hat in two colors and intended to knit one, but have ended up with three. For a simple two-color hat with a brim in one color and body and crown of the hat in a second color, you’ll need the following:
- Color 1 (Brim): 72 yards (31 grams) of worsted weight yarn
- Color 2 (Body and Crown): 152 yard (65 grams) of worsted weight yarn
To knit the hat you’ll want to work in pattern (k1, p1 rib) for approximately 4″ (~24 rnds) in Color 1. This will give you a deep brim that you can fold without having the second color peeking out at the fold. After you’ve worked 4″ of Color 1, you then switch to Color 2 and work the remainder of the hat and crown in Color 2. This produces a really nice color-blocked hat.
I used leftover Lion Brand wool-ease (worsted weight) in Rose Heather and Dark Rose Heather and Lion Brand Pound of Love in Claret for the three pictured hats. The off-white used is Lion Brand Pound of Love in Antique White. These are primarily acrylic yarns so full disclosure, I didn’t wet block these as I would a hat with a higher wool content. I put these through the washing machine on a quick wash cycle. I prefer this because it softens the yarn.
I also think this could be a fun scrappy hat with a bunch of colors. I measured the yarn I used in a single round. Each round requires approximately 2 3/4 to 3 yards of yarn. Knowing the amount of yarn needed per round means you can use up scraps of yarn from other projects and calculate approximately how many rounds you can get out of your scraps.
You can add as many colors as you’d like (depending on your willingness to weave in ends). I have enough yarn left over from these hats and a couple other projects in lovely coordinating colors so that a striped will likely be the next Anchored hat I work on.
I’d love to see if you decide to color-block or add stripes to your hat. Tag me on instagram (@theknitmckinley ) or use #knitmckinley with your projects.