Meet Aether, the eighth and final Cuboidal Hat

So far I’ve introduced you to 7 Hats and today I share the last one!

All of these Hats are constructed top-down, and this one is no exception. To achieve the crown of Aether we take the corners worked in Morph and Mellohi and work nothing but corners. It may be a little fiddly until you’ve got the hang of it, and it may not seem entirely plausible until you’ve worked the first corner, yet it’s a technique that will leave you feeling very clever! Feedback from beta-knitters favoured two things about these Hats - joining the mired squares in the round and working the corners.

The square style used in this Hat is a deliberate break from the styles that create solid borders or nested stripes. Similarly, the crown is worked plain to reflect the brim, with the broken brick pattern working it’s way around the body. To make this even more effective you could offset the squares using the method used in Nethere and I think that’d look really cool! There a few designs in this collection that need a non-offset pattern but several could be switched up, so why not try it?

I feel like Aether is one of the unsung heroes in this collection… folks don’t tend to make this kind of style often, yet it’s construction is pretty remarkable. It’s not sewn like a lot of my quatra peak Hats, or formed at the very end. The way the crown is worked is incredibly satisfying and I’d love for more folks to try it and feel mighty chuffed with that they’ve created! And I’ll say this forever and a day, but these styles are not just for kids - adults can wear fun and quirky Hats, too.

So that’s all 8 Hats shared! So many possibilities… so many square styles, ways of mixing up the border or brim patterns; the squares could be offset, or not, depending on the Hat and your desired result. There really is so SO much that you can do with them, before you factor in the wide range of sizes and gauges covered.

There’s still more I want to share about this collection so please do continue to follow along as we get closer to release day!

Which Hat would you make first? What’s your favourite Cuboidal Hat so far?

About the Cuboidal collection…

As with all of the patterns in this collection, the sample is shown in Malabrigo Arroyo. I find it gives me a nice firm squishy fabric on 2.75mm or 3mm needles, at a gauge of 28 sts to 10cm/4in, which is perfect for garter stitch. You don’t want a loose fabric with these Hats as they’ll stretch, and a firmer gauge ensures the Hat lasts longer before stretching out.

The whole collection is pretty much an any yarn, any size collection! I provide tables covering 8 gauges across 12 sizes, but armed with a gauge swatch and a bit of maths, you can achieve beyond the range provide - the construction of the Hat is the same regardless of the size you’re making or the gauge of your yarn. And the eBook will also include a chapter on head measuring and calculating yardage!

And in case anyone asks, this collection won’t be split into individual patterns. I talk about it more in length on this blog post, but in short the patterns are tutorial heavy and splitting them out just doesn’t work.

The collection will be $23/€19/£17 when published - September 2022 - and members of The Woolly Hat Society will get an exclusive new release discount!

Follow along with the #CuboidalHats tag on Instagram and learn more via the Cuboidal blog category.