Personalized Name Winter Toque Knitting Pattern

Looking for a knit gift with a personal touch? How about knitting a hat with the recipient’s name on it?

This simple hat from Fox and Pine Stitches would be lovely all by itself, but you can make it, like, 50 percent cuter by adding an initial, monogram or even a full name (as long as it’s a short one!) to the body of the hat.

The letters are added with duplicate stitch once the hat is finished, so you can stitch a bunch of these up and then decide who you want to give them to and how you want to embellish them.

I love the look of the lettering matching a pompom on top, but you should go with what’s in your heart.

The hat includes sizes for newborns, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-3 years, 4-12 years and adult women.

The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick, but you can use whatever super bulky yarn you have on hand. The only skills you need for this one are knitting, purling, working a knit 2 together and doing duplicate stitch.

Get the free pattern from Fox and Pine Stitches.

If you’ve never done duplicate stitch before, it’s actually pretty easy. It’s a method of adding graphic designs to the surface of a knitting project by literally sewing over — duplicating — the stitches below.

Duplicate stitch, also known as swiss darning, is a fun and effective tool to have in your colorwork arsenal. There’s a good tutorial at Purl Soho where you can learn the basics.

Check out more patterns using duplicate stitch: the Shape of My Heart Scarf, and this watermelon cushion are both good uses for it. And check out how a little bit of duplicate stitch makes it easier to give your kilt hose a tartan look.

[Photo: Fox and Pine Stitches]

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Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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