A lot of people seem to make hats as their first projects when they get a new circular knitting machine. I did, too, though mine didn’t come out great because I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just knew that people knit hats.
If you’re looking for a hat for your first circular knitting machine project, or you want something different to add to your hat knitting routine, check out these patterns.
The most basic “pattern” most people use to start uses DK or worsted weight yarn and about 120 to 140 rounds of knitting, depending on how slouchy you want your hat to be. Then you basically fold the hat in on itself, cinch the ends and you’ve got a hat. (Check the pattern from Marching North if you need more details.)
Of course there are tons of ways to alter that simple pattern, from making the inside and the outside two different colors (see this one from Savlabot, which uses a solid color on one side and two strands held together on the other) to adding horizontal stripes like on these team spirit beanies from Calumet Knits on Etsy.
You can even stitch up a rainbow striped hat, like this one from Diana Levine Knits. This is a YouTube tutorial, which is great for visual learners.
From there you can try your hand at vertical stripes, like Alina Hera‘s Olympic hat pattern worked on the Addi (though you can also do it on the largest Sentro). Hats like this definitely take more patience because you have to go more slowly to ensure the correct color is used for each stitch, but the result is really cool.
Once you’ve managed vertical stripes maybe you’d like to try a swirl? This is another Alina Hera pattern but I wanted to share it, too, because it’s a fun idea to break up those stripes into swirls.
