Brioche Cat Hat by Natasha Sills

MATERIALS

YARN: 65-85 grams of worsted weight yarn. NEEDLES: US #4, double points or circular.

Sample hat uses Gritty Knits Merinosaurus Worsted GAUGE: About 14 sts and 24 rows over 4”, unstretched
yarn in the colors Mammoth (bottom), Mastodon
SIZES: 17” unstretched, easily adjustable.
(middle), and Psittacosaurus (top).

“I already know brioche. Just give me the basics.”

Cast on 60 stitches and join in the round.

Work in brioche stitch for about 8”.

Turn the hat inside out. Close up the top using 3-needle bind off.

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Brioche Cat Hat page 2

“I’ve never done brioche before.”
Brioche is a thick and squishy version of (k1, p1) ribbing.
It is very warm, and also very stretchy. Here are some
helpful tips to keep in mind:
Brioche stitch is always worked over an even number of
stitches.
It’s common for the first stitch in a brioche pattern to be a
purl rather than a knit.
When you work brioche in the round, you will alternate
between purl rounds and knit rounds. Sometimes you’ll
see these written as “Round 1A” and “Round 1B”. Since
this hat pattern is very simple with no shaping, I’ve simply
labeled them “knit round” and “purl round”.
If you want an in-depth course in brioche, I recommend
designer Lesley Anne Robinson’s online beginner class
https://knitgraffiti.com/courses/mastering-brioche-with-
knit-graffiti-part-one/

Abbreviations
YF-SLYO (for knit rounds)—Bring your yarn forward. Slip
the next stitch purlwise. As you move your yarn over the
top of the needle to knit the next stitch, it creates a yarn
over on top of the slipped stitch.
SLYO (for purl rounds)—With yarn in front, slip the next
stitch purlwise. Wrap the yarn around the needle, creating
a yarn over on top of the slipped stitch, and bring the yarn
back to the front.

BRK—Brioche knit. Knit the stitch together with its yarn BRP—Brioche Purl. Purl the stitch together with its yarn
over from the previous round. over from the previous round.

Check my Instagram stories @grittyknits for quick video demonstrations.

Here is the full hat pattern:

Cast on 60 sts.

Place a marker and join in the round.

Set up round (only do this once): YF-SLYO, k1, repeat

Purl round: BRP, SLYO, repeat

Knit round: YF-SLYO, BRK, repeat

Continue alternating one purl round and one knit round until the hat reaches about 8” tall.

Turn the hat inside out and close up the top of the hat with 3-needle bind off.

A note about sizing

Brioche is a very stretchy fabric. This hat will fit almost any head. It’s about 17” at rest, but stretches up to about 24”.
But if this size doesn’t work or if your gauge is off, you can easily adjust the number of cast on stitches up or down in
increments of 2. Any even number will work.
Brioche Cat Hat page 3

Do you want to blend your colors like I did?

All yarns are Gritty Knits

Merinosaurus Worsted

Color C—Psittacosaurus

Color B—Mastodon

Color A—Mammoth

I achieved the subtle gradient look by alternating colors each round when switching to a new color. The diagram
below shows the details of my method. (Since this hat is knit from the bottom up, you’ll have to read it that way, too.
Read each line in order of the numbers, bottom to top.)

7. bind off

6. work with color C only

5. work knit rounds with color B,

work purl rounds with color C

4. work with color B only

3. work knit rounds with color A,

work purl rounds with color B

2. work with color A only

1. cast on
Brioche Cat Hat page 4

Do you want a fold-up brim?

If so, add 2”-3” to the overall length. You’ll need about 20 extra grams of yarn for this. The hat on the left is 8” tall and
weighs 60 grams. The hat on the right is 11” tall and weighs 80 grams.

As you can see, I did not plan the colors very well on the hat with the brim. The purple, my favorite of the five colors, is
completely hidden under the fold. In order to avoid this, I should have adjusted the number of rounds that I made with
each color. More blue at the bottom, a longer section of purple, or maybe both.

In the diagram below, the hat on the left is how I knit the stripes on the hat shown in the photos. The hat on the right is
how I SHOULD HAVE knit the stripes if I wanted the purple to show:

Condensed pink
and yellow
This part doesn't show
because it is hidden
under the fold-up brim

Extended blue
and purple