Ever since I was a child (even before I could knit) I’ve been obsessed with fair isle patterns and the idea of visiting the place - it seems I’m not the only one:

link to BBC article: Why people are obsessed with Fair Isle

Stonybreck is the name of the main settlement on Fair Isle.

I picked this stitch because I like when the colour patterns create curved shapes (a bit like stones) rather than straight lines.

Split Stones is another hat pattern of mine with pebble shapes.

The Stonybreck hat is easy to knit with no yarn carried over more than 3 stitches - so there’s no need to catch floats: a good project for a beginning fairisle knitter - or a relaxing one for even the most experienced stranded knitter.

If you use a handspun, striping or variegated yarn as the contrast colour, you’ll get extra complexity for no extra effort.

You can also use 3 yarns if you like (only 2 at a time though to keep things relaxing)

2 charts are provided for each version so that you can pick the one closest to your yarns for easier knitting (no need to try and reverse colours in your head as you knit) .

Additional stitch counts:

for 20 sts per 4”/10cm - use 108 sts
for 22 sts per 4”/10cm - use 120 sts.
for 24 sts per 4”/10cm - use 132 sts.

Many thanks to the testers:

kimberlyht
Wenditouie
knittylucia
paulap
Sismademeknit
land233