Barley Light Hat Pattern for Lightweight Yarn
Last Updated on February 5, 2019 by lydiaf1963
In the years since I’ve been knitting I’ve made hats for lots of people; friends, children, grandchildren…everyone but my husband. The Barley Light hat pattern from Tin Can Knits met his exacting standards: it’s not “fussy” and it’s a hat pattern for lightweight yarn.
Rick is particular about his clothes. That’s why I was a little shocked when he asked me to make him a hat. He thinks any yarn from DK on up is too chunky. Although willing to model hats I’ve made for others, he didn’t want to wear them himself. It turns out he likes the look of the sock weight Magrathea garter stitch shawl I made last summer.
The original Barley hat pattern was designed for beginners, so it’s mostly stockinette stitch with a garter stitch panel for a textural contrast. Barley Light was designed after numerous requests for a hat pattern made from lightweight yarn. I guess Rick is not alone in his opinion of what is “chunky” or not!
Next step was to select the yarn. Since he liked my shawl, I again chose a Malabrigo superwash merino sock weight yarn. The color is Ochre. I love the very subtle shading of the yarn and it was very easy to knit with once I settled into the project.
That’s not to say making the Barley Light Hat wasn’t without it’s difficulties, but it wasn’t because of the pattern. For whatever reason I couldn’t get the rounds to close properly without laddering when using double pointed needles, which is my preferred method for making hats. I started over using two circulars, my second favorite method.
I also had to add more stitches to make a hat that would fit comfortably around Rick’s head. If you have to do this, make sure you add stitches in multiples of six then, when it’s time to decrease the crown, adjust the size of the decrease sections to suit the number of stitches you have on your needles.
Rick doesn’t like a hat to be too tight on his head so in addition to increasing the number of stitches I cast on, I also used the same size needles for the entire hat. It’s common for the ribbing to be made with smaller needles to improve the fit and prevent flaring, especially when working with heavier yarns. With this yarn it wasn’t necessary.
Don’t tell Rick, but I got distracted watching Netflix and made a couple mistakes in the garter stitch section. They have become part of the design.
Materials Needed to Make Barley Light Hat
free Barley Light pattern available on Ravelry
Malabrigo Superwash Merino Sock Yarn Available from Amazon or Love Knitting or your local yarn shop. The colorway I used is Ochre.
US Size 2 (2.75 mm) knitting needles for the ribbing (DPNs or circulars)
US Size 4 (3.50 mm) knitting needles for the hat. (DPNs or circulars) I used 2 circulars for the entire project, including the ribbing, and switched to DPNs for the crown. Find needles on Amazon or Love Knitting or your local yarn shop.
Other notions: tapestry needle, stitch markers, scissors
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