Knit a Pretty Tam in Two Colors

There are all sorts of fun hat knitting patterns out there, but I will admit to mostly having knit beanies throughout my knitting career. But there are lots of other fun shapes that allow you to bring different kinds of colorwork to the party, like a tam.

Tams are similar in shape to berets, and both are fun to stitch. The best part is that you can fit a fun circular pattern on the top, which is harder to do on a hat with less real estate.

This Fair Isle Tame from Lion Brand Yarn has a fun design on the top that kind of reminds me of a compass. On the sides of the hat you will find a round of diamonds with little floral shapes inside.

The design is worked in two colors of DK/light weight yarn. The pattern comes in one size, with a circumference at the ribbing of about 20 inches/50.8 cm, which is meant to fit an adult woman but should be a little stretchy to fit a variety of heads.

It’s worked from the bottom up in the round and the colorwork is worked from charts. The pattern is rated for intermediate knitters because of the colorwork and the charts. But it looks like it would be a lot of fun to make!

The pattern for this fair isle tam is free from the Lion Brand website. You can also buy a kit that includes the yarn (you’ll just need one ball each of the two colors in the yarn suggested) and other tools if you need them.

If you’re ready to learn how to knit fair isle or stranded knitting (there is technically a difference but this pattern calls itself fair isle so we’ll go with that), I’ve got a tutorial over on my website, Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

There are two schools of thought when it comes to instructional books about knitting. Either focus in one particular technique or kind of knitting (stranded knitting, say, or brioche) or try to cover a little bit of everything in a reference book that knitters will use throughout their careers.

The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore and Dr. Vikki Haffenden aims to be the second kind. The subtitle is: a step-by-step guide to creating imaginative projects for the home and to wear. I’m not sure it does that, exactly, but it does include a quick look at a lot of different techniques and stitch patterns you might use in your projects.

A “guide to creating imaginative projects” sounds to me like it’s about design, but this book is not. There’s 1/3 of a page about altering patterns that only talks about how to add length to a sleeve and adjust where the increases go.

There’s nothing about measuring your body (the section on choosing a size in a pattern only suggests measuring a garment you already own), general garment construction, ease or stitch pattern multiples. The section on gauge (which is the last third of the page with choosing a garment size and altering patterns, discussed above) just says to knit a swatch, block and measure it to compare to a pattern, with no discussion on how you might use your swatch to design your own project or alter a pattern to meet your gauge.

If you ignore the subtitle, what you will find is a lot of information about different kinds of knitting and various techniques you might want to try on your projects. There are 20 cast ons and 15 bind off options, for instance, all discussed before you learn how to knit or purl. (Another quibble I have with this book is the order in which things are presented, but that’s relatively minor.)

You’ll find quick hits on increases and decreases, twists and cables, lace, colorwork, textured effects like fisherman’s rib and brioche, loops, mosaic knitting, double knitting, decorative stitches, shadow knitting, bias knitting, mitered squares, entrelac and more. There are tips for selvedge stitches, knitting with beads, adding buttonholes, picking up stitches and more.

A few patterns at the back give knitters a taste of some of the techniques included, but they’re not rated by skill level and the first one is a bias knit gradient scarf worked in six different colors of mohair, which isn’t a thing I’d wish on any beginner.

And I guess that’s maybe what my issue with the book is. I don’t know if it’s meant for beginners and it doesn’t seem to, either. I feel like this book would be overwhelming to new knitters and doesn’t really give you a place to start or all the information you might need to do projects well.

The variety of techniques included is fun, and there are also stitch patterns in the back you can use on your own projects, but again it doesn’t really provide any guidance for how to design your own projects so I don’t know how helpful all of that is.

I want to like books like this because having one reference that helps you with a lot of different things is great, I’m just not sure this is the one. If you can find it at your library or local book store and flip through it before buying, I think that would be a great idea to see if it’s a book that would be helpful for you.

And if you have this book and love it please let me know! I’m sure it’s good for someone I’m just not sure who.

About the book: 336 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by DK. Suggested retail price $40.

Have you read?