Basic Beginner's Hat

This is a very basic hat pattern designed to help people who are learning to knit get used to common techniques including knitting in the round, purling, ribbing, and K2TOG decreasing. The instructions are written out with their abbreviations to make deciphering patterns a little easier. This is also a good pattern for more experienced knitters just looking for something quick, simple, and practical. The pattern includes lengths for both a beanie (shown in grey) and a watch cap with a longer brim that gets folded up (shown in black.) Because it's about as simple a pattern as you can get, it's very easy to change the length of the hat to fit your needs. Since learning a new skill can be expensive, I suggest using cheaper yarns to help you get started. It can be intimidating to look at $20/skein yarn when you don't know if you'll even wear what you knit with it. These samples were knit with Cascade Pacifica and KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, both of which are around $6/skein. One hat takes about 130 yards of worsted weight yarn so you might be able to get two hats out of one skein. If you can, look for yarns that have organic materials as their primary fiber (i.e. wool, cotton, alpaca). Not only are these more sustainable, but they let you block the finished piece and are generally more comfortable and hold up better. If you enjoy this pattern, please consider donating a hat to shelter or organization in need of warm-weather clothing where you live. A wool hat can go a long way in a cold winter. For questions or comments email: maggiebillingsknits@gmail.com July 2021: Updated the pattern to correct the instructions for joining work in the round. The original version mixed up right and left when describing which needle to move the stitches to for the join.