I belong to a local knitting group who are currently knitting hats for homeless people, so I’ve spent most of the week working on a quick and easy pattern. I wanted something quite simple so that it would suit a beginner knitter, and would hopefully appeal to the tastes of a wide range of people. Not knowing the recipients, I also opted for colours that were likely to be neutral and weren’t strongly associated with any football team. The yarn is a super soft acrylic, which will be really warm but will also dry much faster than wool after wet weather. The resulting pattern is available below – feel free to use it to make hats for gifts or charity causes. It’s really easy to customise it by adding motifs, stripes, pompoms or other embellishments.
Basic Hat
Size – to fit a medium (large) adult head
You will need – King Cole Big Value Chunky, 100% acrylic, 153m per 100g ball – 1 ball per hat – I used Seaspray and Grey, 5.5mm circular needle or long DPNs, yarn needle.
Gauge – 15sts to 10cm/4in on 5.5mm needles
Instructions –
Cast on 72 (80) sts and join to work in the round. Place stitch marker to mark beg of round.
Work in K2 P2 rib for 28 (32) rounds, starting with K2.
Work 18 (22) rounds in st st, dec 2sts on last round for smaller size only. 70 (80) sts
Decrease for crown –
Rnd 1 – *K8, k2tog, rep from * to end of rnd. 63 (72) sts
Rnd 2 and every other even numbered rnd – k to end
Rnd 3 – *K7, k2tog, rep from * to end of rnd. 56 (64) sts
Cont in this way until 14 (16) sts rem.
Next rnd – K2 tog to end of rnd. 7 (8) sts
Draw yarn through rem sts and fasten off.
Torya Winters Designs 