I’m late to the party, but apparently every year there is a hat pattern to celebrate Shetland Wool Week. I’ve seen the cute lambs hat from a few years ago (Baa-ble), and knit Katie’s Kep twice, but otherwise haven’t paid much attention.

The latest SWW pattern – Bonnie Isle Hat – has come out for 2022, and I have begun knitting it. The nautical theme features waves and anchors and a bit of a unique cast-on and rib beginning.

Get the Free SWW Bonnie Isle Hat pattern, by Linda Shearer, at Ravelry.

Read about Shetland Wool Week at their site. It will take place the end of September and is a “Celebration of Shetland’s wonderful textile heritage.”

Choosing the Five Wool Colors to Knit the Bonnie Isle

As I rummaged through my Jamieson & Smith wool skeins, I decided to look at the image of the five hats featured on the pattern. The blue hat in particular was helpful. The background color is A, the rib color is B, and so forth. I don’t have a color printer so I referenced the image on my computer.

Because of the nautical theme, with waves and anchors, I wanted blues and blue-green colors. I chose a light tan background with pink as the extra color to go with the blues.

This is the fun of knitting color-work for me. I love to choose my own colors. If, in the end, I don’t like how they work together, I can always knit another hat and try again! Hats take very little yarn to knit when doing Fair Isle.

I can’t say that I am super happy with my colors, but I’ll wait and see how the project turns out. Sometimes things change greatly after a wash.

By the way, if you are new to knitting color-work, this might be a good hat to try. The patterning is small so the floats are not long.

More Bonnie Isle Hat Knitting Photos

I don’t have a head form for drying hats but in this photo it has been washed and somewhat “blocked”. I’ve been sick and all I can really manage to do it knit while I sit in the chair and watch mindless television. It’s the reason this hat was finished so quickly.

Shetland Wool Week Hat for 2020

The hat pattern for the year 2020 was Katie’s Kep and I have knit two of those. What a lovely pattern by Wilma Malcolmson.

---

Shetland Wool Week Hats Through the Years

This has made me wonder which hat patterns I’ve missed. So, I began digging to find all 9 hats so far.

The tradition of offering a SWW hat pattern began in 2014 (according to The Shetland Wool Week FB page) with the pattern Shwook. This is a lovely hat pattern and it is still FREE! I think I must have it.

I have found info about the Baa-ble Hat, from 2015. It is hard to miss this cute hat with the chubby sheep all around.

In 2016 there was the Crofthoose Hat, by Ella Gordon. The link goes to Ravelry where the pattern can be purchased.

In 2017, the hat was designed buy Gudrun Johnston and is called Bousta Beanie. (Link goes to Ravelry)

2018 brought the Merrie Dancers Toorie pattern by – I’m not sure.

And back in 2019, Oliver Henry gave us the Roadside Beanie with motifs of Shetland sheep and fishing boats.

Covid, as we all know, was excellent for messing everything up and SWW was cancelled in 2020. There was a hat pattern, called Katie’s Kep, which I have mentioned with my photos above. I was just beginning my colorwork knitting journey and messed up on the first (blue) hat, so I knit another one and did much better.

Once again in 2021, Wilma Malcolmson (link goes to her website, Shetland Designer) created a hat design called, Da Crofter’s Kep. It’s another beauty, and I’m not sure why I have not knit it yet. I really must do so.

And now we are up to date at the Bonnie Isle Hat for this year. I’ll add more photos as I get the hat knit up.

---

Knitters, Please Keep Reading