Book Review: Knit Hats with Woolly Wormhead

Woolly Wormhead is known for her fun and colorful hat knitting patterns, and 22 of her designs are collected in Knit Hats with Woolly Wormhead.

The patterns are arranged by size/gender: 5 for kids, 5 for men and 12 for women. But of course women would be happy to wear the “men’s” hats, and some of the women’s hats would be great for guys as well. (Having written books I totally understand needing to have some kind of organizing conventions, but it’s still worth noting a lot of these patterns would be nice for a variety of heads and the patterns all give a wide range of sizes.)

The designs are often not what you’d consider traditional. They’re often worked from side to side rather than top down or bottom up. There’s a lot of colorwork, lace, cables and textured knitting.

But if you’re going to knit hats they might as well be fun, right?

Some of my favorites include Scourie, a side to side colorwork pattern with a sort of leaf-shapes design; Chevron, a beanie with a zig-zag textured stitch; and Wychavon, a Garter Stitch hat with a brim that folds up and is held in place with buttons.

You can check out all the projects on Ravelry.

Hats are fun to knit because they don’t take a lot of yarn or time and are a great way to play with new techniques. You will definitely find some new to you options in this book and have a good time keeping everyone’s head warm.

About the book: 136 pages, 22 patterns, paperback. Published July 2021 by Stackpole Books. Suggested retail $24.95.

Next Pattern:

It’s always a good time for a bookmark, and even more so as we start thinking about back to school time. Reading is more fun when you have a pretty bookmark. That’s just science.

Plus bookmarks are fast, portable, and a fun way to try out different skills. So let’s get busy with some bookmark knitting patterns!

This set of three bookmark knitting patterns from Lucky Fox Knits includes one worked in garter stitch, an easy eyelet lace and one with eyelets running down the center. I love the little I-cord for the tassel!

Add a simple textured stitch to a bookmark to make it a little more fun. This one from Franciscan Gypsy is called the paper towel bookmark, and I’ll bet you can pick it out above just from that description. This one calls for fingering weight yarn.

Another pretty allover pattern is this slip-stitch lace design from Handy Little Me. Inspired by Taylor Swift’s Speak Now, it’s a sweet little design worked in fingering weight yarn. This one is a little extra fun because it has two tassels.

I love this undulating wheat ear bookmark pattern from KMKnits Shop. It’s an interesting stitch pattern perfect for advanced beginner knitters, and it uses sport weight yarn.

A lot of knit bookmarks have a bit of lace, and they’re actually a great way to pick up some lace knitting skills on a tiny project that doesn’t have to be perfect. I like this lacy one from Val Knitting Shop, which is inspired by daisy petals. It calls for fingering weight yarn.

The Jasmine Bookmark from Valentina Fezova-Georgieva is another pretty lace pattern that’s a little more complex but still totally doable. It calls for fingering weight yarn and is available on Ravelry.

If you want a more literal inspiration of flowers in your bookmark pattern, try the pair of floral bookmarks form Warm and KnittedS. One has a little rosette and the other just has leaves. They look like I-cord but they’re actually worked flat on two needles and will stitch up in no time for a last minute gift or to tuck into your latest read.

Next Pattern:

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