Hats are one of the best things to knit, whether you are a beginner or advanced. All types of stitches can be used to create intricate designs, or do simple knits all the way around. My collection of unisex hat designs on this page are some I have recently knit. They are all fairly easy to create, and men and women alike can wear them by simply changing the colors. Some of the patterns are free, so what do you have to lose?
Useful info: Hats generally take less than a skein of yarn to knit! You will need a set of 16 inch long needles in the size suggested with double-pointed needles in the same size for the crown decreases. Find a stretchy cast-on to use – I like the Old Norwegian / German Twisted cast on. Youtube has videos, and it is simple once you learn.
Northward Hat
The Northward Hat is a free downloadable pattern by Tin Can Knits and has chunky cables. If you’ve never knit cables, this hat will help you learn. I knit this pattern using bulky “Franca” yarn by Manos del Uruguay, and I knit it in one day! This yarn is also washable, so it’s good for gifting purposes.
Chunky one day hat
Two by Two Hat – Free Download
Blue, 2×2 ribbed watch cap. I honestly can’t remember what pattern I followed for this hat, but it’s obviously a k2, p2 ribbing all the way up to the decreases at the crown. I may not have used a pattern – wait, here it is – the Two by Two pattern. Hats like this are quite easy to knit once you know how many stitches to cast on for what weight yarn. Your own knitting experience will tell you that number.
Blue yarn is Miss Bab’s Madison which is an Aran weight and knits up fast. It’s also 100% Superwash Merino wool. I made this one for my son who will never hand-wash a hat!
Blue hat in 2×2 rib using Miss Bab’s Madison yarn
Churchmouse Ribbed Watch Cap
This brown hat is a Churchmouse pattern Ribbed Watch Cap. See my notes on knitting this one. It is knit inside out. I used another washable yarn from Lorna’s Laces. This pattern takes some time as smaller needles are used so there are more stitches to deal with. The decreases are odd as well – to me anyway. It also comes as a Beanie, which might be the place to start.
Finished watchcap
The Colorado Chic(k) Beanie is a free download and it mimics the popular hats of it’s name. This one is very simple, and especially if you leave off the double brim, as I did. I was using up some Miss Bab’s Madison yarn in aran weight, so this was finished fast. I think I would like it better in a solid color.
Colorado Chic hat knit in Miss Bab’s Madison “Mad Hatter” colorway
All of these hats can be found on the Ravelry site where you will see more colors used. It’s a great place to find ideas for yarn types and finished projects in colors you may be considering.
A review of knitting the Namu Cowl with some easy cables in pretty “Root Beer” yarn color way by Annual.
The NAMU cable cowl is such a lovely pattern, and yes folks, it’s FREE! The directions are well-written, and there is also a chart. Designer Knitboop has graciously given the knitting world this interesting project, which can be knit up quite quickly.
Namu is Korean for “tree” and Knitboop goes on to include more info and even a poem on the last page of the download.
The short version of the cowl is small and will fit snuggly around the neck, but it can be knit longer with the correct pattern repeats. I chose to use my new skeins of Anzula For Better or Worsted yarn in “Rootbeer” (Find Anzula yarn at Jimmy Beans or Webs). Choose a soft yarn for this type of garment which will be close to the skin.
The pattern is easy to follow, but a beginner may find it difficult. You must cable and know how to do Yarn Overs with knits and purls.
After knitting the ribbing I noticed some pooling of color, which is difficult to see in my photo below, so I began alternating skeins for the cables. I may use one skein for the next repeat of the pattern just to see how it looks.
Pooling of colors
I snapped this photo below once I finished the first cable repeat of 23 rows. I will do these rows once more to finish the cowl, so I’m halfway there!
The “Namu” cowl pattern.
I wanted to mention the pooling of color, which you can see once again as I dropped one ball of yarn to finish off the top portion of the cowl. There was some striping there as compared to the center cable portion of the cowl.
Now about the bind off. It calls for a stretchy bind off which makes sense because it will be pulled over your head. I began with Jeny’s stretchy bind off and it was looking too floppy. So I did regular bind off stitches between Jeny’s. Jeny’s is basically done by adding a yarn-over making 2 stitches to bind off. I used it on the Polliwog Popover for the first time. It still ended up being too wide but wearing that top bind off at the bottom of the cowl – around the neck / shoulder area works well.
I’m actually wearing the cowl upside down, but it really doesn’t matter with this pattern.
Finished!
Anzula and Other Soft Cowl Yarn Ideas
I used Anzula, but there are other soft yarns to consider when cowl knitting. Here are a few I have used or have researched for softness. Some can be machine washed, but why would you? Cowls are small, and can easily be hand-washed and dried flat.
For such a pretty cable pattern, use a slightly variegated yarn, solid color or ombre color yarn. Too many color variations would take away from the cabling. Also a lighter color will help show off the pattern.
Yardage needed is 220 yards in Worsted Weight yarn. You will need more if you make the longer version.
Madeline Tosh “Vintage” – this link goes to Wool and Company, who ships for free (US only) and will wind skeins at no charge!
The Anzula is so soft and I love this golden-bronze color. I fell in love with Anzula yarn when I knit the Quince Wrap and used gray Anzula (fingering weight) for the edges. I bought it on a whim when the Four Purls yarn truck came to town. Anzula offers a wide array of yarn types.
I found this free pattern called Winter Morning (Link goes to Ravelry) to knit a chunky / bulky yarn headband with a cable. So here are the results and tips I want to share. First of all, my grown daughter has shown interest in this type of accessory in the past, so I believe she will wear it. I’ll make one for myself too because my ears may get cold on early morning winter walks here in Florida.
This is an easy pattern which I knit in 2 hours, and I do like the way it came out. BUT… the cast on, and kitchener stitch took time because I had to look them both up. (See more about the Provisional cast-on and Kitchener stitch down the page.)
Washing: The Madeline Tosh yarn is machine washable so I put it into a zippered mesh bag and washed with my clothes. I took it out to air dry – and the yarn smelled awful… which sometimes happens with treated yarn – but once it was dry there was no smell. It’s ready to give away.
Finished!
Finding the Right Bulky Yarn
I needed to find some good, yet machine washable, yarn because it will be a gift for my daughter. She is a busy woman so I wanted an easy-to-care-for gift. The yarns below are not cheap and come from Peru, South Africa, and Italy. I should get 2 ear-warmers out of each skein of the Mad Tosh. You can find other super bulky yarns for a bargain, but I wanted nice yarn. After I bought my yarn, I found Mirasol Yaya for $5.54 on sale at Wool Warehouse. It ships from England. This yarn is only around 50 yards, and would make one headband, but it’s affordable.
Bulky Yarn That is Machine Washable
After doing much searching online I ordered the yarn shown below and chose the Mad Tosh ASAP in “Cosompolitan” (far right below) to knit the first headband. (I’ve begun a second using the Wool Addicts “Fire” super bulky yarn, in dark gray, and I love it and think it works better for this project.)
Bulky yarn by Mad Tosh, Spud & Chloe, and Wool Addicts
Because I want an idea of which yarn is best for this easy project, I will try all four of the yarns above and do a comparison, which I will share at some point!
“Franca” super bulky, washable yarn
Wool Addicts “Fire” super bulky yarn is very soft
Provisional Cast On to Needle Using Crochet Hook
A provisional cast on means using yarn that will be removed from the project – in this case, at the end of knitting the band. The stitches will be picked up onto the needle and the gray yarn here will be removed. That way both the end and beginning stitches can be knit together to create a nice-looking seam (hopefully).
I’ve included a video by Very Pink Knits to show how to do this because the pattern calls for it.
Casting right onto the needle using a crochet hook.
Once the provisional yarn is on the needle, knit one row. Then, begin the pattern.
Knitting onto the provisional cast on
Finish With the Kitchener Stitch
The worst part of knitting this headband / ear-warmer was putting the held stitches back onto the needle from the cast-on. It has to be done in order to finish with the Kitchener stitch. Once you figure that out, both needles should have the same number of stitches. They will be sewn together.
The Kitchener stitch is something I can only do when watching a video. I still don’t know if the working yarn has to come from the back needle or not. In Purl Soho’s video (below) they use an unattached piece of yarn, so I assume it doesn’t matter. Hold right sides facing out and have the same number of stitches on both needles. Once I get to the end with only one stitch on each needle I wing it because I have yet to see what to do!
For the kitchener stitch you will need a darning needle and long bit of yarn left from the end of knitting the headband. All I can say is watch the video and pause it as you go. I could not tighten up my stitches because I couldn’t tell where my stitches were! Purl Soho is using red on white, but I am not. Just a note: In case you are wondering, it’s helpful to know this stitch if you knit socks and mittens because sometimes you end the toe / fingers section doing this stitch.
In the middle of the kitchener stitch
My kitchener stitch
Changes to Make Next Time
Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed with my stitching (kitchener stitch) and I decided I would knit my next headband with a regular long-tail cast-on and regular bind-off and stitch the ends together. It will be much easier. We’ll see how it looks.
Also, if you know how to do other types of cables, it would be easy to change that part of the pattern. This cable is very simple and I knit with size 13 wooden needles and used a DPN as a cable needle.
Just so you can see that it fits!
Once the band measured around 18.5-19 inches (my daughter has a small head and for myself I would go another inch). I stopped and finished it off. As you can see in my photo above it fits on my gray-haired head. It will look much prettier on my daughter’s head. As I mentioned above, this yarn is not really bulky enough even though it is called “super bulky”. The skein is 90 yards long, so one skein should make 2 headbands.
Types and Cost of Yarn
Here is a list of the yarn I bought and the approximate price per skein (at the time of this writing). Remember that some skeins have enough yardage to make two headbands from this pattern.
Spud & Chloe Outer- $18 (wool and organic cotton – 60 yds, will make one headband)
Manos del Uruguay “Franca” – $36 (114 yards) is super bulky (reminds me of Mad Tosh “Rasta”, except it’s washable) I found some at Richland Street Yarns on Etsy for $26.75 per skein – in limited colors.
