Ring your head in ravens. If you are a fan of Poe, this hat is perfect for you. It’s also good for bird lovers of all types. It will nicely fit an 18” - 22” head circumference; probably a 10 year old through adult.

I used budget friendly and down-to-earth wool, Knit Picks “Palette”. It comes in oodles of colors, so knit with the colors that make you happy. You can also use any other fingering weight yarn you like. Colorwork is best done with wool or wool blend. You will use one skein (50g) of a light color (I used Gosling) and one skein (50g) of a dark color for the birds (I used Midnight Heather). You will need a size US2/2.75mm 16” circular needle and the same size in a set of four double pointed needles. The hat has a farrow rib ribbing - very attractive! You can increase the length of the ribbing and fold it up, if desired. The rest of the hat is stockinette/stocking stitch, so quick to make as you are working in the round with no purling.

You have the choice of a plain one-color hat with no colorwork at all. OR you can add the ravens, each one in a different pose, using intarsia, stranded colorwork, or my favorite technique for this type of hat, duplicate stitch. The top right hand stitch of each bird is marked as you knit, so you know precisely where to start each one as you begin to work duplicate stitch from each chart, eliminating tedious counting to find the correct starting stitch.

The charts are big and easy to read. There are many fine tutorials for colorwork on the internet, if you need to learn or bone up on your technique.