Just before Christmas I stumbled across the Milarrochy Heids hat pattern book by Kate Davies Designs. I honestly cannot remember how I came across this book, which comes from Scotland (awesome). I think I saw one of the hats, which grabbed my attention. It was the Tarradale, which is a slouchy, reversible hat with a big star motif. I fell in love with this hat! And as I saw more hats featured in this book, I knew I had to have it.

Unfortunately for me, the Tarradale hat is done in something called “double-knitting” and turns out to be a pattern that is currently too difficult for me to attempt (something to look forward to). But the book contains patterns which are doable for many skill levels, although reading a chart is necessary.

Let’s Stripe and Tettegouche

If you buy the Milarrochy Heids book, be sure to read the introduction pages. A number of designers contributed to this book, and the finished products are very unique. FYI: You will have to know how to read a chart.

Of course I wanted to jump right in and find a pattern, but the first couple of pages are insightful. And nature photography exists alongside gorgeous pictures of all the hats. It’s a very lovely book, with a total of 100 pages.

In that beginning section Kate Davies suggests a few patterns suitable for the novice knitter. Let’s Stripe was one, and I chose to make it first, but I chose my own colors and didn’t follow the color chart. I also made it a bit taller.

Because my yarn order of the Milarrochy Tweed yarn had not arrived, I began the striped hat using yarn from my stash. Mostly I used Madeline Tosh sock yarn and other fingering weights. This is a great pattern for using up leftover bits of yarn, but be warned… there are a million tails to weave in when you finish! I carried some colors to reduce the cutting of colors, but still…..

Once the Milarrochy tweed yarn arrived – all the way from Scotland!…., I cast on the Tettegouche. This one involves color work, which I don’t have a ton of experience with. It will take me a while to finish, but it’s fun to work on and the hat is so pretty. I will post a picture when it’s finished. Below is a photo of the cute little balls of tweed yarn.

All the hats in this book are knit with small needle sizes, such as 2, 3, and 4. One takes a size 5, and your gauge may be different, but you won’t be able to go down much.

I hope to eventually make every hat in the book. For now, some other favorite patterns of mine are Roamin’, Breiwick (hat on cover), and Every Flavour.