cable brim hat

Yarn: 200-ish yards of worsted weight wool
Needle: 5mm DPNs and circular

Pattern:

Pull out your stitch dictionary of choice (I confess, I am deeply enthralled by Barbara Walker) and pick out a cable pattern that looks like it will knit up to be 2-3 inches wide. Add two stitches to either side of the motif and do the following:

RS: slip 2 stiches, knit cable pattern, slip 1, purl 1
WS: slip 1, purl 1, knit cable pattern, purl 2

The extra stitches and all the slipping give you an even, nice-looking edge while also creating a border for your cable motif.

Knit the cable motif until it is however long you want your hat brim to be, and sew the cast off edge to the cast on edge. I tried to be clever and start with a provisional cast on and then graft the two ends together, but it didn't turn out that well. This is probably because I didn't feel like thinking that hard about it when the time came, and not because it can't be done, or that it would be particularly difficult. Do whatever you want.

Then, with your circular needle, pick up stitches all the way around the brim you just made. If you need more stitches than you picked up, increase in the next round. Knit the rest of the hat like you would any other hat (for advice on this I highly recommend the section on hats in Knitting Rules by that other Stephanie).

Cast off, weave in ends, feel clever. The end!