I tried to make a fair Isle hat yesterday, but it was too small. I can't seem to find a nice pattern, so I'm working one out myself. I think that 72 sts is kinda the magic amount of stitches. 72 is divisible by 2, 4, 6, 8, 12. That makes patterns really easy to create. I'm trying it with some old stretched out yarn on size 10 needles. I think for the real hat, I'll go size 9, 16 inch circs. I still need to make the flap for the Fair Isle Gingham bag. I'm a little scared. I'll do a practice flap sometime this weekend. The picture is the bottom rows of the fair Isle for my hat. It's a simple tree-ish pattern.