An Easy Hat to Knit Before it Gets Cold

For some reason we’ve been having a somewhat cool and really rainy August here in Arkansas, so as much as I want to hang onto the warm weather I’m also already thinking about fall and winter.

I love to do a few quick knitting projects at the beginning of the season or a little before it starts to get cool so I know that I have some nice new things for the new season.

If you want a few new knit accessories for fall (or spring, for that matter), the Park City Knit Beanie from Stitch and Hustle would be a great choice.

It’s a simple design worked in Seed Stitch in the round and uses a super bulky yarn and big, size 13 US needles. It’s a little slouchy, so it will fit a variety of people, and it only uses one skein of yarn, so you might want to add this one to your list of projects to make for gift knitting.

[Photo: Stitch and Hustle.]

Looking for more Knitted Beanie patterns? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

When I discovered Kate Atherley’s book Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond, I wasn’t sure there was enough to say about circular knitting to fill a book. It’s a pretty short book (144 pages) and includes 10 patterns to practice working in the round on small projects, and it provides a decent introduction to the various ways of working in the round.

The book covers using double pointed knitting needles, flexible double points and circular knitting needles with cables. It talks about working using the full circumference of a circular needle and various ways to work smaller circumference projects, such as using DPNs, magic loop and knitting with two circular knitting needles.

In addition there’s a discussion of preventing problems like twists and ladders, swatching in the round without actually swatching in the round, grafting, blocking and weaving in ends.

More specialized techniques likes knitting from the center out, stranded colorwork, helical knitting and jogless stripes are also explored, as well as working pieces like socks or mitts two at a time.

There’s also some information about seamless sweaters, including the different sweater designs that can be worked seamlessly (and why you might want seams in your sweaters) and how they are worked from the top down or the bottom up.

There are 10 patterns in the book, including a basic stockinette stitch cowl and one with a deliberate twist, wrist warmers, mitts and a pair of colorwork mittens, a hat worked in a solid color or in helical stripes, toe up and top down socks and a beret. It would have been nice to have a basic sweater pattern, too, since the book does talk about working larger garments with circular needles, but it’s still a nice collection of basic patterns worked in the round.

If you’re already comfortable working in the round in different ways, I’m not sure there’s much for you to learn in this book, but it is a good reference for people learning circular knitting or who maybe haven’t tried all the techniques yet or need skill building projects to try.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 10 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?