A “Fractured Fairy Tale” is a re-telling of a popular story, often with a humorous or irreverent slant to it. The colorwork flowers of this hat design reminded me of the artwork in the fairy tale spoofs on the retro “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show”.

Worked in the round from the brim to the crown in sportweight yarn, the hat uses stranded colorwork in 2 colors. Choose either a short ribbing, or a deeper ribbing that can be folded either under or upward (to keep your ears warmer). An optional pompom adds to the fun.

Notes for Sizing: Because stranded colorwork does not stretch as much as ribbed patterns or single-color stockinette stitch, I recommend choosing a size that is larger than the circumference of the wearer’s head. For example, the model’s head measures to 20”, and is wearing the size small (which measures to 23”). Hats for those with larger
noggins should make the size medium, or size up by using a heavier weight yarn such as light-worsted.

Materials:
1 skein each of the Main Color (MC) and Contrasting Color (CC) in Madelinetosh Tosh Sport (280 yds/skein; MC/CC shown in Button Jar Blue/Daffodil), or Wollmeise DK (468 yds/200g, MC/CC Fliederbush/Zarte Knopse)
Approximately 170(190, 210) yards of the MC, and 105(120, 140) yards of the CC in sport or light-DK weight yarn.
Optional pompom in the MC requires 12-15 yards of yarn

Additional Note: It’s typical that row gauge for stranded colorwork is looser (fewer rows/”) than that of single-color stockinette stitch. However, not all knitters experience this. If you find that your row gauge is tighter than 25 rows/4”, you will end up with a shorter hat, but fear not! I have provided you with an extended chart for a longer hat if you have a tighter row gauge than the pattern.

Get the free knitCompanion app to use your kCDesign (learn more).