Skills Needed: Cast on, knit, purl, knit with two colors, decrease

Description of pattern:
When searching for a vacation rental near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this summer, I came across not only a small cottage to rent, but an entire island, Namaste Island. We rented something less grand, but imagine time spent on a private island with use of a boat to shuttle you from the mainland to your private, wooded retreat, with nothing but sky and water surrounding you. At the time of this writing, the island is up for sale. Maybe you’ll invite me to join you next summer?

Knitting this hat may not get you closer to your own private island retreat, but watching a long striping yarn change as you work through the charts is a pretty relaxing practice in itself. You’ll want to have a bit of meditative silence as you knit, Namaste Island charts require close attention as there are no short, easy to memorize repeats here. A true Yogi will want to capture all of the symbolism included, but Namaste Island can be simplified by adding two repeats the Nordic Flower chart and eliminating the Ohm symbol…knitter’s choice.

SIZE
Adult Medium (22”)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
22” circumference after blocking

MATERIALS
Noro Silk Garden 45%silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% lambs’ wool; 100m per 50 g skein;
color: 251;MC 1 skein

Berroco Ultra Alpaca 50% Alpaca, 50% wool; 215yds/198m per 3.5 oz/100 g skein; color 6245; MC 1 skein

1 set US #5/3.75mm double-point needles
16-inch US #3/3.25mm circular needle
16-inch US #5/3.75mm circular needle

Notions required stitch markers, tapestry needle

GAUGE
26 st/26 rows over 4” (10 cm) in Fair Isle pattern using size US 5 needles

PATTERN NOTES
When choosing your yarn, be sure there is high contrast between all of the colors in your self-striping yarn and your main color. Colors that are “close” will make your pattern tough to see while you knit and disappointing in your finished hat.

Catching floats every few stitches and carrying yarn loosely behind your work will help your knitting remain true to gauge.