I had planned a much more complex hat with triangular gussets to transition from bias knitting to a smooth edge. But my husband noticed that the Herringbone cowl could fit over my ears like a head band, and asked why I didn’t construct a herringbone hat in the same way. Just as I was explaining to him that I couldn’t do that, I saw a picture in my head of how I could! He’s been very gracious about that.
The toque is made from repeated bias trapezoid sections, There are both short rows and decreases in the crown, and increases near the i-cord brim.
Several of the pattern testers found that they needed more trapezoids than I did to reach the brim circumference, even if they matched my stitch gauge. Since the pattern is on the bias, both stitch and row gauge come into play. The testers simply knit more trapezoidal sections, and were pleased with their hats.