I love alpaca. It has a beautiful drape and a wonderful softness. I’ve called this hat the Rivulet hat. Its construction features winding cables knitted it to highlight alpaca’s tumbling drape, which in turn resembles running water.

As alpaca has a tendency to stretch, I’ve knitted this hat fitted, or snug, to help avoid the issue. The cables and slightly smaller needle (3.5mm) should also make sure this hat continues to look great and stay in shape during the course of its lifespan. Twisted cables help the pattern to ‘pop’ and enhances the winding river pattern.

This hat is knitted for a 55 – 58cm circumference head (medium-size). Unstretched, this hat is approx 34cm (14”) in circumference but it fits my 57cm head just right. To go up or down a size, my suggestion is to remove 6 or add 6 stitches respectively (one cable repeat + dividing purl stitches).

It uses 70g of one 100g hank of Flagstaff Alpacas yarn, a beautiful, hand-dyed 100% New Zealand alpaca yarn. However, you can use any DK-weight alpaca yarn for this pattern.