An Easy Hat to Knit for Texture Lovers

If you’re planning to knit any gifts for the holidays, it’s probably time to start thinking about it if you haven’t already. I’m going to be spending a lot of time over the next couple of months sharing some quick, easy, fun and totally giftable knitting projects (though of course you can knit these for yourself, too!).

I love to knit hats even though I don’t wear them all that often. The smallish canvas is a lot of fun, and I feel like it gives you enough time with a stitch pattern or design that you’re still enjoying it, and not so much that you get bored with it before it’s done.

The texture on the Made Wild Beanie from Smeeny Made Wild is definitely something that will keep you interested through the length of a hat. This bottom up hat is worked in the round using bulky weight yarn and a waffle-like texture that’s super easy to knit. It includes ribbing at the bottom for a snug and cozy fit.

The hat comes in one size, which would probably fit a teen or a woman, but the pattern stitch looks simple enough you might be able to adjust to make a bigger or smaller hat if you wanted to. It’s shown with a faux fur pompom, but you could also make one with contrasting or matching yarn, or leave it off if you’re not a pompom person.

Maybe the best part is this hat only uses about 100 yards of yarn, so not only does it knit up quickly, you can make it with a single skein or less of yarn. Maybe you can even use leftovers from another project for this one.

Speaking of yarn leftovers, I’ve collected 30 ways to use leftover bulky yarn here.

You can get the pattern for the Made Wild Beanie on Ravelry.

[Photo: Smeeny Made Wild]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a fun project to play with brioche knitting, check out the My Buddy knitting pattern/recipe from Casuarinagirl on Ravelry.

This project doesn’t include a brioche tutorial, so it’s good to know the basics, including how to increase and decrease, but you can always practice on a swatch before you start the project if you want.

The design is meant to be flexible for the yarn you have and what size and shape of project you want to make, from a skinny neck scarf to a asymmetrical triangle or a more classic triangular shape.

The shape you end up with will depend on how often you increase (and then decrease on the other side). The pattern mentions increasing every fourth, fifth or six row (and the one shown increases and decreases every sixth row) but you can do it even more or less often depending on the shape you’re looking for an how much yarn you want to use.

You can work to whatever depth you would like, or use almost half of the yarn you have set aside for the project and begin decreasing.

When it comes to yarn, she used three strands of yarn held together to make a super fluffy shawl, but you can work it with whatever yarn and needles you like to make a wrap that’s all your own.

If you are new to brioche (or to increasing and decreasing in brioche) it might be a good idea to make a little scarf or head wrap first before diving in to the bigger pattern, just so you’re more comfortable with the technique. Or just give it a go; nothing about brioche knitting is that difficult. (But you might want to use a lifeline because I find brioche hard to rip out or fix mistakes in properly.)

You can grab the free pattern for the Buddy Wrap on Ravelry.

[Photo: Casuarinagirl]

Next Pattern:

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