The first charts

And so Christmas 2012 was approaching. Fast.
But no matter, I had just discovered fair isle and fair isle my friends would get as presents. Whether they liked it or not. And even if there was only a few weeks to spare before D-Day (or Christmas Day).
I knitted 3 fair isle hats in the space of a month (along with a "normal" hat, a cowl or two, and a bolero). It was very much the only stuff I did while hibernating at the beginning of winter.

All hats are based on a pattern found in a old magazine from my Mum's, dated from the 90's I think.
I didn't really keep notes of things completing the projects, I didn't think I'd have to use any of it again! But I think it goes as follow :
Cast on 96 stitches on a 3.5mm circular needle.
Work 8 cm on 2x2 rib
Switch to 4mm circular needle and knit a round, increasing 1 stitch every 20 stitches (100 st)
Knit the 32 rounds of fair isle chart
Switch to double pointed needles, and start decreasing 10 stitches every 2nd round, until 20 stitches remains.
Decrease to 10 stitches.
Close hat.

Now, these are the instructions for a hat that would actually fit someone's head nicely. The first hat I've made (with the lettering) was too small and the second one (with the pandas) ended up too big. But it's like they say, third time's the charm and the green hat was the right size!
I have used Rowan's Pure Wool DK for all three hats, with also some K1 Yarns Scappa wool as contrast colors on the green hat.

1- "I love the beat" hat
I had two charts to do that one. One for the 32 rounds of the hat's main body, and one for the "I love the beat" lettering. The latter looks like a banner, I've worked it on a 50 stitches width basis, so it would be knitted twice to fit the circumference of the hat.

finished!

and of course he has to wear the hat with the change of rounds at the front. ..

2- Panda hat
The reason this one ended up too big is because I liked the black pandas so much I just felt like I'd fit some more and did the blue ones. Therefore extending the length of the hat a few rounds too many. Oops!

pandas in the detail

3- Green hat
A simple fair isle design, but it hit the spot with the friend who received this hat a present. Or so he told me, I hope it was an honest thought!...