u/Different-Cod-2020

I‘m trying to reverse engineer this hat:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYRMj06s98i/

using some chunky yarn and a mod of the Broadsea Hat by Ysolda Teague (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/broadsea-hat) but curious for ideas on the irregular black spots with ribbing! If it was stockinette I’d duplicate stitch. I’m wondering if intarsia but modifying so that you knit all stitches on the row before you switch colors to keep it from having ugly purl-side color bars. Any other ideas out there from folks?