I’ve been on this kick lately to find patterns you can make without using a lot of yarn, so you can either use leftovers from another project or maybe a single skein you’ve been hanging onto that you aren’t sure what to do with.
The last one I shared was worsted weight projects for the home; this time I’m looking at worsted weight hats. The rule here was that I wanted them to use less than 200 yards of yarn (a couple of these have an adult large size that uses more, but for the most part this is true) and I wanted to share hats that are easy but pretty and fun to make (gift knitting season is coming up you know!).
Basic Hat Knitting Patterns
The easiest hat you can get is a flat hat, and there are some good options in that post linked right there, but here are a couple more. The Coast to Coast Beanie from Perfectly Knotted (buy on Ravelry) is worked in garter stitch from side to side, then seamed to finish it off. Jennifer Dassau’s Eldora (free on Ravelry) is another take on a sideways knit garter stitch hat but with a few more techniques added in: provisional cast on and short rows.
When it comes to working in the round, the easiest hats are worked in stockinette stitch, with a little ribbing at the bottom to keep them from curling. My Baker’s Hat by Emily Russell is an example of this. A free Ravelry download, it uses 1×1 ribbing with a turning round to make folding up the brim easier, and the top is worked with a simple square decrease.
Or try the Birchwood Beanie from Woolly Bear Knit on Etsy. This one uses 2×2 ribbing, and you can knit it short or long depending on your preference for folding (and how much yarn you have).
Make your basic a little fancier by working your 1×1 ribbed brim in a different color, and you’re going even further to trim your stash. The Simple Hat from The Old Horizon Crafts on Etsy can also be worked in a single color, of course, but this is a fun thing to think about if you’re using leftovers and don’t quite have enough for a full hat.
Ribbed Hats
Of course if you’re doing a little bit of ribbing on your worsted weight hat, the next logical step is to work the whole hat in ribbing. Ribbed hats are a great gift idea because they’re a classic style and the ribbing is stretchy so it’s a little more forgiving in terms of fitting a range of heads.
Lavanya Patricella’s Photographer Hat is a perfect slouchy ribbed hat, and it’s available as a free download on Ravelry. Or try Tori Yu’s Manhattan Hat, which has a fun bit of shaping at the top that makes this hat really stand out (buy on Ravelry).
PURE by Linda Whaley on Etsy has a nice basic ribbed hat, too, which is worked in 2×2 ribbing and sized for babies through adults. This pattern has options to be knit flat or in the round depending on your preference.
The Soft + Cushy Hat from Purl Soho is a special kind of ribbing called Fisherman’s Rib, where stitches are worked in the round below for extra springiness. It’s an easier way to get a look similar to brioche and it makes a hat super soft and squishy without a lot of work. (It’s really easy once you have the technique down.)
Bankhead, a free Ravelry download from Susan Gourlay, is a different take on ribbing in that the brim is a traditional 1×1 rib and the body of the hat uses a much wider ribbing, with only a few ridges of purls that stand as a graphic element more than adding stretch.
Simple Textures
There are plenty of other options when it comes to the stitch pattern you use when knitting a hat. There’s no way I could cover them all in one post, which is part of the fun of knitting — there’s always more to try!
Barley from Tin Can Knits combines garter stitch and stockinette, but in unexpected ways that makes for a really pretty hat. This one is a free download on Ravelry and it’s sized for babies through adult large so you can make them for everyone.
Add a bit of easy knit purl texture with the Mount Ambler Hat, a free pattern on Ravelry from Gabriella Roberts. Or try the adult sized Christian’s Hat, from Ágnes Kutas on Ravelry, which also has a scarf to match if you’re into that sort of thing.
Andrea Mowry’s Pollen Hat uses slipped stitches and a cable texture to add interest to a hat that’s still easy to knit. It’s sized for babies through adults and you can buy it on Ravelry.
Speaking of cables, you can also add some easy cable twists to your hat alongside some ribbing with the Ribs n Cables Beanie by Anne Gagnon. This free Ravelry pattern is perfect for learning how to make cables, and it comes in two sizes and a couple of different brim options.
Colorwork Hat Knitting Patterns
I do like to keep these collections mostly to single color projects, but since we’re talking about using leftovers odds are good you have more than one extra ball of worsted weight yarn hanging around. So let’s try some easy colorwork on these worsted weight hat patterns.
The Turn a Square hat from Brooklyn Tweed uses stripes and a four-point decrease for a striking look. You can buy this pattern on their website or get it for free if you sign up for their newsletter.
The Eagle Eye Beanie from Nich Knits on Etsy is a great introduction to colorwork because it’s a slip stitch, mosaic knitting pattern. That means you’re only working with one yarn at a time and making the color design by slipping stitches. I love the use of a multicolored yarn here, too, because it makes it look more complicated than it is.
Take mosaic knitting in a different direction with the pretty Pomona Hat by Jenny Noto (on Ravelry). This one is sized for adults and the pattern includes instructions for using different yarn weights, from worsted to super bulky, so you can really use whatever you have here.
Get a little more complex with the Dovetail Hat from Manos del Uruguay designer Quinn Reverendo. This pattern uses four colors but is a great way to use up some little bits of leftovers (you could do the colorwork part in fewer colors, but it would be a lot less fun).
Or go bold with your colorwork and spread a little love with the Love the Winter Hat by Emily Dorimer on Ravelry. The heart designs are easy to knit and the pattern comes in sizes from babies through adults. This one will give you some practice reading charts, too.
