easy – New England's Narrow Road

Free, Fast and Cute Pattern For Maine Morning Mitts

This cute fingerless mitts pattern, Maine Morning Mitts, is easy to knit and is good practice for knitting in the round. I love knitting hats in the round, but not so much these smaller circumferences. Mitts, mittens and socks require DPN’s, small circumference needles, or the use of Magic Loop.

Simple Hand-knit Unisex Hats For Beginners

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.

Northward cable hat hand-knit — 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!

2x2 rib boys 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 hand knit — 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.

Finished knitting the Colorado Chic beanie — 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.

Knitting Colorwork Hats

Turkish Patterned cap knit twice — Knitting and fixing the Turkish Patterned cap

Knitting the Turkish Patterned Cap

Katie's Kep Fair Isle hat — Katie’s Kep Fair Isle hat begins with a corrugated rib around the brim.

Triple patterned watchcap small — Triple-patterned Watchcap

Finished Knitting the Scrappy Bias Shawl

The Scrappy Bias Shawl was a free pattern I found at Ravelry (link below). The knitting begins at one point and expands outward by using increases on one edge and decreases on the other, which ends up as an elongated triangle shape. It’s very simple to work and can be knit in so many ways.

I liked the idea of the gradient, so I chose colors that complemented each other as they changed from darker blue, green, brown, and red, to light pink, yellow and speckled in the center. Then, back to the same dark colors at the long end of the scarf. Following a pattern, yet doing my own thing, made knitting this shawl fun. No one will have a scarf exactly like mine!

My colorful version of the free pattern: scrappy bias shawl — Scrappy Bias shawl – completed!

Fortunately I was knitting during the Florida winter so I could put on my flannel and wrap up in my finished shawl and not be roasting hot for the photo below. I don’t get much chance to wear any of my knitwear because of the climate, but occasionally it does happen.

Me wearing my newly knitted Scrappy Bias Shawl — Wearing my new shawl

***Here is the link to the Scrappy Bias Shawl pattern on Ravelry, where you will see some of the various styles and colors knitters have chosen. (You will need to create an account to view Ravelry pages.) It could be knit in a solid color, stripes, or using self-striping yarn. Use heavier worsted to make it chunky, or lighter weight yarn would give it more of a drape. Clever people could also add a design of some sort throughout.

I didn’t follow the bind off suggested in the pattern, but did an I-cord bind-off instead (See the video above for “How To”). I had just learned how when finishing my Bay’s Edge shawl, and love the look.

Visit my Knitting, Yarn and Patterns board on Pinterest for more ideas.