During the winter season Tenney Park, in Madison, Wisconsin, looks like a scene straight out of a snow globe with a quaint old-fashioned skating rink tucked in between pillowy banks of white snow. It is like stepping back in time. Every year we go ice-skating at Tenney Park and every year I soak in all of the knitwear being worn by the skaters and I especially enjoy the skating hats. I get inspired by the variety, color, texture, colorwork patterns and of course the big pom-poms. The design for my Skating Hat is a nod to the fantastic hats that keep all of those heads warm while skating in freezing temperatures. There is both a fingering weight and worsted weight version included in the pattern. Both hats boast a beautifully simple and interesting colorwork motif and a fully-designed colorwork crown. Both versions are fun to knit and even more fun to wear.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
To fit a head circumference of 20 to 23-inches.

YARN
Worsted weight version: Barrett Wool Co. Home Worsted Weight (100% American Wool), 230 yds (210 m)/100 grams, 1 skein each of Pepin (CC) and Ellie Gray (MC), and optional small amounts of Red Flannel and Field for the French knots and pom pom.

Fingering Weight Version: Barrett Wool Co. Home Fingering Weight (100% American Wool), 370 yds (338 m)/100 grams, 1 skein each in Peppercorn (CC), Bluff (MC), Picket Fence (MC) and Morning Sky (MC).

NEEDLES
Worsted-weight version:
US size 5 (3.75mm) 16-inch circular
US size 6 (4.25mm) 16-inch circular
US size 6 (4.25 mm) set of 5 double-pointed needles
Or size to obtain gauge.

Fingering weight version:
US size 2 (3.0mm) 16-inch circular
US size 2 (3.0mm) set of 5 double-pointed needles
Or size to obtain gauge.

GAUGE
Worsted weight version:
5.5 stitches and 8 rows per inch (2.54cm) in stockinette stitch on larger size needles

Fingering-weight version:
7.5 stitches and 10 rows per inch (2.54cm) in stockinette stitch

MATERIALS
Ruler or tape measure
Yarn needle
Stitch markers