page_title: Monmouth cap
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Monmouth cap / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Monmouth Cap, Llangua Llangua Bridge on the A465 can be seen in the background.
context_page_description: The Monmouth cap was an item of woollen headgear fashionable between the 15th and 18th centuries, and associated with the town of Monmouth in south east Wales. The knitted round caps were used by both soldiers and sailors, and they were widely exported.
context_section_description: Thousands of Monmouth caps were made, but their relatively low cost, and the ease with which the knitting could unravel, means that few remain.  The picture of the brown hat with the carrying loop is from Monmouth Museum and shows this rare example, which was knitted from coarse 2 ply wool. The cap was made by casting on at the lower edge and knitting in the round towards the top.  The crown consists of a classic rounded top, with the last remaining stitches cast off.  The yarn tail was wrapped around just below the cast off stitches to gather them, leaving the little lump commonly, but inexactly, referred to as a button.  The doubled brim was formed by picking up stitches inside the body of the cap, and worked down to the original cast on.  The cast on loops were picked up, and a 3 needle bindoff worked to finish and join the inner brim to the outer cap, ending with a little loop.   Patterns that attempt a stitch for stitch reproduction sometimes result in a cap that is slightly too narrow, after felting, due to the different felting characteristics of modern knitting yarn. Each hat was made weatherproof by felting, a process which reduced its size. The distance from the centre to the hem in this example varies between 5 and 6 inches (150 mm).
  Similar caps are now produced for historical reenactment organisations.
caption: The small area known as "Monmouth Cap"
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