We knitters are so lucky that in the past 5 years or so, a number of beautiful Japanese stitch dictionaries have been published with English translations. This hat is the result of swatching (or playing with) a pattern from Gayle Roehm’s translation of Hitomi Shida’s Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible.

While not required, I highly recommend the use of highlighter tape to closely track your place in the chart. I knitted faster and with fewer errors when I started using it.