About the hat
This hat uses the same motif as the Skystone Armwarmers I designed for Boost Your Knitting: Another Year of Techniques, published by Arnall-Culliford Knitwear in 2019. For this pattern, I have adapted the motif to fit the dimensions of a hat and incorporated crown-shaping so that it will fit your head.

This hat is worked in the round at a relaxed gauge. It is knit from the brim to the crown. Yarn is held double around the brim for working cosy ribbing. This provides maximum warmth and durability. It also means you avoid a discrepancy in the thickness of your fabric between the ribbing and colourwork sections of the hat.

About the motif
My Skystone motif grew out of an interest in inspiration
sources which feature organic, varying shapes arranged in some sort of loose order: pebbles on the beach; puffs of cloud in the sky; flints and moss on an old wall; sprinklings of flowers in the grass; chunks of granite sealed in tarmac… anything and everything that features lots of differently-sized pieces and a rich range of colours. Inspiration sources like this can be found everywhere: this pattern offers a template for turning them into a hat. The motif fits with the rhythmic structure of stranded colourwork but also suggests random shapes of different sizes.

Gauge instructions & other helpful resources
Full instructions for working a gauge-swatch in the round to determine your needle size are included in this pattern, along with blank charts and drawings of the motif to help you with choosing your colours.

Yarns used
The inspiration used for knitting the sample was a pinecone, which accounts for the soft browns and greys used. The pattern is designed to support you in choosing a palette of your own but, should you wish to knit one like the sample, here is the yarn and the shades used:

Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight
(4ply weight / fingering; 100% Real Shetland Wool; 115m / 125yards; 25g balls).

Yarn A: Shade FC58; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn B: Shade FC44; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn C: Shade 4; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn D: Shade 202; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn E: Shade 2; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn F: Shade FC43; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn G: Shade FC45; 1 x 25g ball
Yarn H: Shade 32; 1 x 25g ball

Further resources
For inspiration for your colours, please look at the incredible projects produced by everyone participating in the Skystone Armwarmers August KAL - the Skystone Armwarmers use the same motif as the hat.
You may also enjoy this video tutorial, exploring the subject of choosing colours for stranded colourwork.