It’s December, and winter has well and truly arrived in the UK – we’ve even had a dusting of snow! So it feels very appropriate to be kicking off the winter quarter of Confident Knitting this week, starting with Gudrun Johnston’s Stellar Hat.

The Stellar Hat is a modern stranded colourwork hat with an appealing, lattice-like geometric motif. Before you get to that though, there’s a classic ribbed brim which begins with this month’s featured technique, the long-tail and German Twisted Cast On for ribbing.

There are so many details I love about this hat: the contrast cast on, the deep folded brim, the (optional) pom pom … and of course that fresh colourwork pattern. A perfect hat to knit for yourself, or to gift, we also think this would be a fabulous first colouwork project, with its short and manageable repeats. Another stunner from colourwork maven Gudrun Johnston!

So, about that cast on! Gudrun’s Stellar Hat uses the much-loved by knitters the world over long-tail cast on paired with the German Twisted cast-on method to create a really clever effect. The long-tail cast-on stitches look like knits. The German Twisted cast-on stitches look like purls. Put them together and you get a cast-on edge that sets you up beautifully for rib. Sort of like a tubular cast on, but with less prep work. As always, we’ll have a longer blog post diving into the technique next week, but the tutorial video is live on our YouTube channel if you want to get cracking.

The Stellar Hat is knitted using three colours of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight. We’ve got two fabulous colourways available as part of our Confident Knitting Winter Kits, which contain all the yarn you’ll need for the Stellar Hat as well as the January and February Confident Knitting projects … including some breathtaking hand-dyed from Third Vault Yarns! Or build your own colourway! You’ll need 2-3 balls (depending on size) of your main colour and one each of 2 contrasts. We’ve got plllllenty of shades to choose from in the online shop.

Our Confident Knitting December knitalong kicks off today, and we can’t wait to see your versions of the Stellar Hat. Of course, any project that uses this month’s featured technique is welcome, so do come on over if you’re making a project that uses the long-tail and German twisted cast on for ribbing (hint: Gudrun also uses this cast on for quite a few of the patterns in The Shetland Trader Book Three if you fancy some KAL double dipping!)