The Rowan Beatrice Beanie by Lisa Richardson – a knitting pattern review

I first fell in love with this hat on a trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London back in October 2019.  Rowan had a stall at the show and were selling balls of Rowan Sultano Fine yarn as a sort of kit combined with the pattern. The pattern itself is a free download so you really only pay for the yarn itself which, since it’s made up of a silk, mohair and cashmere combination, is a little on the spendy side but once you have a feel of that stuff you’ll absolutely know why it’s so pricey. 

I didn’t buy the yarn that day though as there was no getting away from the expense of it, no matter how lovely and having already spent a lot (it was the Knitting and Stitching Show after all) I just couldn’t justify the cost at that time. It did however, remain on my knitting wish list for a long while after the show and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Since I loved the style of the hat anyway, I decided to try out the pattern on a cheaper yarn I’d had at home for a while, a lovely neutral beige wool blend from Hobbycraft.  The yarn was pretty much the same weight as the Rowan so I hoped it would knit up ok and it did. 

The hat is knit flat which I quite liked as I’m still not overly confident at knitting anything in the round and the pattern is made up of a simple but really effective rib pattern of alternate knit 3 purl 1 stitches. 

I found this pattern to be a really lovely, relaxing knit.  There’s a little bit of interest there in the alternating knit and purl stitches but it’s easy enough to knit in front of the tv without requiring too much concentration.

Despite being knit on 4mm needles with a fair few stitches on the needle I found the hat knitted up much quicker than I had expected.  I enjoy knitting on smaller sized needles anyway as I find it easier on my hands.

Once my hat was finished it was very quick and easy to sew up the back seam and I chose to use a fluffy brown faux fur pom pom to finish it off which I picked up from a lovely shop linked here on Etsy.

Unfortunately, this beloved version of the Beatrice Beanie came to a sad end as, after wearing it during an October half term holiday to Cornwall, it accidentally got thrown into the washing machine with a lot of other holiday washing and let’s just say the wool blend didn’t take kindly to a 40 degree wash!! You live and learn…

So later that year, around Christmas time when still couldn’t get that lovely Rowan Sultano Fine yarn out of my head I decided to treat myself to a skien in the pretty shade of Lapin which is a very dark navy – the shade the model wears in the picture above which I absolutely loved the look of.

Since the yarn comes as a skien it needs winding into a ball.  I employed the help of my husband for this part.  He held and I wound, it took a little while but it was well worth the extra effort, you’re bound to encounter a few horrible tangles if you skip this step!

This second version of the hat knitted up so nicely and the yarn was a dream to knit with, despite the fluff rings that I kept needing to cut off every so often 😉

I’m so pleased that I invested in the recommended yarn for my hat in the end because it was well worth it. It really does feel special, super soft, cosy and luxurious.  I managed to save the faux fur pom pom from my sadly machine washed first version and re use it for my navy version and I think it finishes it off perfectly.

I’d really love to knit another version of this hat in a different shade of the Sultano Fine but I might have to save up for a little while first 😉

Have you knit this hat?  If so, how did you find it and I’d love to know if you’ve ever treated yourself a really special wool or yarn – was it worth it? I’m happy to say that in this case, for me it was. 

Do comment below and let me know!

Until next time – happy knitting!

Sally xx

If you fancy seeing the hat ‘in person’ and hearing a bit more about the knitting process I talk all about it in my January 2021 makes video over on YouTube – the link below will take you straight there 🙂