A cosy, reversible delight, the Clarissa hat makes a great first two-colour brioche knitting project.

With written and charted instructions, and links to video tutorials for every brioche stitch used, the pattern guides you through all the steps to create a beautiful hat.

Starting from a single coloured cast-on, the body of the hat is worked in basic two-coloured brioche stitch – giving oodles of practice in this technique before the crown is shaped with simple, yet decorative brioche decreases.

The end result is a cosy, squishy hat that’ll both keep you warm and look beautiful.

Clarissa can be worked in two colours of DK-weight yarn, or in a 4ply held with a lace weight such a mohair. And with even the largest size needing only 88m (110yds) of each yarn, it’s a great stashbusting project.

Key information
Clarissa is worked in the round from the bottom up, starting with a single-coloured stretchy cast-on to create a contrast edge. The body of the hat is worked in classic two-colour brioche, with length options for either a single layer or folded brim. Finally, decorative decreases are worked towards the crown.

Because brioche is so stretchy, the 4 sizes of the hat cover a large range of head sizes. The crown decreases are charted separately for the smallest size, keeping the proportions of the hat similar across the range. Where sizes vary, instructions are given as baby (child, small adult, large adult).

Recommended yarn
Clarissa is designed for DK weight yarn, or 4ply yarn held with a laceweight such as mohair.

This hat will work with a variety of yarns, so what you go for depends on your personal preferences. Choose a soft, rounded yarn for a hat that’s extremely cosy and squishable, or go for a more rustic yarn for a less polished look.

The green and pink sample is worked in Sandnes Garn Sandnes Garn Sunday (100% merino, 235m per 50g) in the shade 4304, held with Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair (57% Mohair, 15% Wool, 28% Silk, 212m per 25g) in the shade 3511, and Knitting for Olive Merino (100% merino, 250m per 50g) in Bottle Green held with Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair (70% mohair, 30% silk, 225m per 25g) in Dusty Artichoke.

Yarn requirements
These yarn requirements are for each colour – so if you are planning to use a strand of 4ply with a laceweight, you will need this amount of each yarn.

For single layer brim:
38 (52, 68, 80) m / 42 (57, 75, 88) yds of each colour.

For folded brim:
44 (62, 80, 100) m / 48 (68, 88, 110) yds of each colour.

Gauge
19 sts and 22 rounds to 10cm/4in squared, worked in brioche on 3.5mm (US 4) needles. When measuring your round gauge, it’s important to note that a round is only complete after BOTH colours have been worked.

Suggested needles and notions

• 3.5mm (US 4) circular needle - you can use a long (100cm/40in) needle and work the whole hat with magic loop, or a 40cm needle and switch to DPNs for the crown decreases.
• stitch marker
• tapestry needle
• cable needle

Sizing
Cynthia is designed to fit with negative ease – meaning the circumference of the hat is smaller than that of your head.

For full sizing info, see the sizing table in the pictures section of this listing.