Are we halfway through the Year of Hats already?! I guess we are because it’s the third Tuesday of June, and that means the June Hat is ready for you!

Image: Linette Kielinski
If this is your first time coming across our Year of Hats series, we are releasing a new, free hat pattern made in our Germantown yarn every month. Each month we feature a hat with a new technique and this month is no exception!

Image: Linette Kielinski
My hat plays with contrast colors in both horizontal and vertical stripes using a classic black and white pairing. The crown decreases are integrated into the vertical stripe repeat and are virtually invisible.
Best of all, by using two different skeins of Germantown, you will have enough to make two hats in opposite colorways! One for you and one for your best friend.

Image: Linette Kielinski
My favorite part of any hat is the pompom. For this hat, with its stark black and white pattern, I thought it would be fun to use little bits of all the previous months colors to make multicolored pompoms for a literal pop of color at the top.

Image: Linette Kielinski
We have limited kits available for the June Hat and include:
• 2 skeins of Germantown; one in natural and one in black
• 4 Perennial butterflies in natural, sage, gold, and lead
• 2 custom leather labels

Image: Linette Kielinski
My finished hat is very small. What needle would you suggest to make a larger size? I don’t want to block the finished hat.
Hi there! The hat calls for US 7 needles to achieve a gauge of 20 stitches to 4″. If your hat is too small, it sounds like you need to check your gauge so see how many stitches are in 4″, and if there are more than 20, you need to go up a needle size.I’m not sure why you would not want to block the finished hat – do you never plan on washing it?