My e-mail address: deborah-web@deborah.best.vwh.

net
My Ravelry ID is DeborahBennett

Maze and Chevron Hat

by Deborah Bennett

Adult. Photographer: Deborah Bennett

Difficulty: Advanced Beginner

Skills used: Knit stitch, purl stitch, slip stitch, K2tog and SSK decreases, knitting
in the round

I designed this hat as a way to try out a new yarn and to be entertaining to knit. It
is also a great stash-buster, since it uses ½ skein each of two colors. I loved
knitting it and I love wearing it. The shape is like a toque: a braided band, then
straight knitting (no shaping) up to the second band. The top is decreased by 8
stitches every other row until 8 stitches are left, and the hat is topped with a MC
I-cord tied in a knot.
The hat looks quite complicated but is actually easy to knit. Only one color is used
on any given round in most of the hat. There are only 4 rows (in the bands) which
use both colors at the same time.
The hat uses three pattern elements. The two bands are a modified version of the
braided band from the Toque chapter of 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats to Knit.
The straight section uses the Maze Pattern (p. 69 in 1970 edition) from A
Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The top uses the Zebra Chevron
(p.69 in the 1968 edition) from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 1 09/20/09

The mosaic patterns are not worked as true mosaic patterns, since I worked each
row in the chart only once. (I call this single-row or short-form Mosaic knitting,
which can only be done in the round). I was partially inspired by the Maze hat by
Celeste Culpepper.

L to R, Adult, Child. Photographer: Deborah Bennett

SIZE
Child [Adult] (shown in size Adult)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
20 [23] inches around
7 [9.5] inches high (excluding top knot)

MATERIALS
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice [100% acrylic; 170yd/156m per 100g skein]
[MC] color: Black; one half skein
[CC] color: White; one half skein

1 set US #8/5.0mm double-point needles

1 16- or 20-inch US #8/5.0mm circular needle
1 16- or 20-inch US #6/4.0mm circular needle
6 [7] stitch markers. One marker (for beginning of round) should be a different
color.
Yarn needle

GAUGE
17 sts/21 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch using larger needles
20 sts/22 rows = 4” over maze pattern using larger needles

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 2 09/20/09

 Maze Section Detail. Photographer: Deborah Bennett

PATTERN NOTES
I think the hat looks best in strongly contrasting colors.

While working the maze and chevron charts, you will be using only one strand of
yarn at a time. At the end of each round, you will switch to the other color. On
each pattern round, you will knit the stitches on the chart which appear in your
working color, and slip the stitches (purlwise with yarn in back) which appear in
the other color. The bar on the right shows the color used for each row. Chart
rows are read from right to left.

Use stitch markers to keep track of pattern repeats and beginning of round. You
will use 6 [7] markers in the straight (maze) section, and 4 markers in the crown
(chevron) section.

Hold the yarn in back when slipping stitches. At the beginning of each new
round, pick up the new color from under the old color to avoid holes.
There is an excellent video tutorial showing knitting a left-pointing braid at this
URL: http://www.knitwhits.com/community/tutorials.php#Braid. Note that I
have written this pattern with a right-pointing braid, which simply reverses the
two rows shown in the video.

DIRECTIONS
With MC and smaller circular needle, CO 84 [98] sts. Place end of round marker
and join to work in the round, being careful not to twist. Join CC.

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 3 09/20/09

Braided Band (pointing right)
Pull out several yards of yarn from skeins of MC and CC. This length will
accommodate the yarns twisting and untwisting as the band is worked.

[K1 MC, K1 CC], continue to work around alternating MC and CC stitches. End
with a CC stitch.

Bring both yarns to front. P1 MC. Drop MC, pick up CC from under MC. P1 CC.
Drop CC, pick up MC from under CC. Continue to work around, alternating MC
and CC purl stitches, keeping floats in front of work, and allowing working yarns
to twist together clockwise in the same direction each time.
Note that each stitch color will match its corresponding stitch in the previous
round.

P1 MC. Drop MC, pick up CC from over MC. P1 CC. Drop CC, pick up MC from
over CC. Continue to work around, alternating MC and CC purl stitches, keeping
floats in front of work, and allowing working yarns to untwist (counter-clockwise)
in the same direction each time. The direction of twist is opposite to the previous
round. The stitch color will still match its corresponding stitch in the previous
round.

Straight (Maze) Section

Switch to larger circular needle.
With MC, K 3 rounds. On last round, place markers every 14 stitches for a total of
7[8] markers on the needles.

The maze pattern is based on two groups of 7 stitches. One group is 7 stitches of
working color together forming a horizontal bar, the other 7 are alternating
with the other color forming the vertical bars. The groups progress one stitch to
the right with each round.
Using MC for dark and CC for light, work rounds 1-16 of Maze chart.

For size Child:

Work rounds 1-8 of Maze chart. There are 6 repeats of the chart around the hat.

For size Adult:

Work rounds 1-16 of Maze chart again. There are 7 repeats of the chart around
the hat.

With MC, K two rounds. On first round, remove all markers except the beginning
of round marker.

Upper Band
Work Braided Band again exactly as before.

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 4 09/20/09

Crown (Chevron) Section

With MC, K one round.

For size Child:

Continuing with MC, (K10, K2Tog, K9, PM) 3 times, K10, K2Tog, K9.

For size Adult:

Continuing with MC, K24, PM, K2Tog, K23, PM, K23, K2Tog, PM, K24.

4 markers placed every 20 [24] sts, 80 [96] sts on needle.

Be sure to work the correct chart for your chosen size.

Using MC for dark and CC for light, work rows 1-19 [1-23] of Zebra Chevron
chart. Switch to DPNS when necessary. 8 sts on needle. Cut CC and draw into
hole in center of hat to be darned in later.

Crown Detail. Photograhper: Deborah Bennett

I-Cord
Place remaining 8 sts on one DPN. Last stitch previously worked is on the left-
hand end of the DPN.
With MC, K2tog 4 times. 4 sts on needle. Slide sts to other end of needle.
K4. Slide sts to other end of needle.
Continue to work 4-stitch I-cord in MC to desired length. Bind off. Tie I-cord in a
knot.

FINISHING
Weave in ends.

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 5 09/20/09

ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Deborah Bennett knits and works as a stay-at-home mom and part time theater
tech in the San Francisco Bay Area. She previously worked on device drivers and
operating systems software for a number of Silicon Valley high-tech firms.

Pattern and Images copyright 2008 Deborah Bennett. Pattern is for your
personal or charity use only, sales of items made from this pattern prohibited
without approval of Deborah Bennett.

Maze and Chevron Hat Pattern Page 6 09/20/09

 Maze and Chevron Hat Charts

\ / 19
V 18
\ V / 17
V V 16
\ V / 15
V V V 14
\ V V V / 13
V V V 12
\ V V V / 11
V V V V 10
\ V V V / 9
V V V V V 8
\ V V V V / 7
V V V V V 6
\ V V V V V / 5
V V V V V V 4
\ V V V V V / 3
V V V V V V V 2
V V V V V V V 1

Child L Zebra Chevron Chart

\ / 23
V 22
\ / 21
V V 20
\ V / 19
V V 18
\ V V / 17
V V V 16
\ V V / 15
V V V V 14
\ V V V / 13
V V V V 12
\ V V V V / 11
V V V V V 10
\ V V V V / 9
V V V V V V 8
\ V V V V V / 7
V V V V V V 6
\ V V V V V V / 5
V V V V V V V 4
\ V V V V V V / 3
V V V V V V V V 2
V V V V V V V V 1

Adult M Zebra Chevron Chart

Page 1 02/17/2009
 Maze and Chevron Hat Charts

V V V V 16
V V V V 15
V V V V 14
V V V V 13
V V V V 12
V V V V 11
V V V V 10
V V V V 9
V V V V 8
V V V V 7
V V V V 6
V V V V 5
V V V V 4
V V V V 3
V V V V 2
V V V V 1

Maze Chart (all sizes)

V
Slip as to purl with
yarn in back
\ SSK decrease
/ K2Tog decrease

Page 2 02/17/2009