This is Marshlands, by Amy E. Anderson (Wigglyworld on Ravelry).  It is knit in Blackberry Ridge medium weight wool yarns. For $16.00 the Blackberry Ridge kit is a bargain and there is an ample amount of yarn included. The pattern is also available in Amy’s Rav store. This hat is a very quick knit. It would be an excellent first Fair Isle project.

Embroidery is among the many needlecrafts that I never mastered, but Amy’s directions are very clear on how to embroider the tops of the reeds. “In at point one, out at point two, in at point three…,” all nicely charted. It has been observed that my reed tops look more like dead Christmas trees, but we won’t discuss that right now.

This hat looks incredibly dopey on my head. Sad to say, but true. But I had Sara, the granddaughter of my neighbors at the lake, try it on and she looked cute as a bug’s ear. My question to Sara was “braids–on or off?”  She voted to keep the braids on, and so I did. Amy’s pattern called for more diminutive six-strand braids.