Tutorial: Anyone Can Knit a Baby Hat!

First Attempt at making a baby hat.

The holiday season always puts me in the knitting mood.  With a baby on the way and so many friends with babies on the way, I thought baby hats might be a good place to start this time.  I'm not the most experienced knitter, but this project was simple, fun and, most importantly, fast!  My first hat turned out pretty cute despite the mistakes I made.  The whole button with a fold up brim was not in the original design...just me making the best of a few miscalculations :)  The tutorial will be for the original hat, but I will explain how to make the "mistake" hat at the end, too.




Ok, on to the tutorial...
You will need

1. Yarn- I used Lion Brand-made in the U.S.A- in Hepple White.  The weight...I think...is "Bulky 5" at least that's what the package says (remember when I said I'm not an experienced knitter)
2. Circular knitting needles.  I used 16" No. 10
3. A yarn needle...I didn't use one, just a big sewing needle.  That seemed to work fine for me.

Step 1:  Cast on 40 stitches for a hat size about 0-3 months.  Here is a helpful video in case you are new to knitting. If you want to knit a larger size hat, just make sure the number of cast on stitches is a multiple of 8 (40, 40, 56, etc).

Knitting in the round

Step 2:  Begin knitting in the round (Here is a helpful video).  Place a marker at the start of your circle.  This time I just used the tail yarn.  You could use a different color thread tied in a loop or a paper clip. 

Make sure not to let your stitches twist.  If this happens, you will have to start over because you will have a figure 8 structure rather than the tube that we are trying for. 

Knit to desired height with markers

Now turn on a movie and keep knitting until you reach your desired height.  I knitted to about 7 inches so that I would have enough room to do a fold over brim. 


Step 3:  Knit one more time around adding markers every 8 stitches.

Step 4:  Begin decreasing by knitting the two stitches before the marker together.  In other words, knit six normally then knit the seventh and eighth together.  Continue this pattern.  The next time around you will knit five normally and join six and seven. 

Step 5:  Cut the yarn once you have only a few stitches left on the needle.  I just stopped when it became too difficult to knit in the round.  I think there were 10 or 8 stitches left on my needle. 

You can thread a needle with the yarn at this point and begin threading the yarn through the left over stitches on the needle.  Pull it tight and tie it off. 

Step 6:  optional :)  I had a few loosely knitted stitches that I gathered together with the extra yarn on the needle.  This created a tighter more professional looking hat.  Trim your thread and you are done!  Roll up the brim, fold up the brim, or just leave it as is.  Sit back and admire your work!  Can you see the cute pin wheel pattern formed by the decrease pattern? 

The "Mistake" Hat Instructions:

Follow the instructions above with the following modifications:
1. Cast on 60 stitches.
2. Knit the 60 stitches in the round for about one inch. 
3. Begin decreasing until you reach 40 stitches.  You should use the knitting marker as a decreasing guide. 
4. First combine 8 stitches on each side (16 total) to make the number of stitches 52.  Knit a few rounds (maybe 4) at this number and then decrease again. (this is where I was debating on just starting over, but decided to decrease again)
5. Decrease to 46 on the round by combining six stitches on each side of the marker.  Knit a few more rounds (this is where I realized that 46 was not a multiple of 8...Math is not my subject).
6.  Finally decrease to 40 stitches and knit up to the desired height.
7.  There will be a v pattern on the hat.  This is what I folded over and up to create the look of the hat in the picture.  I overlapped the V to make the hat an even circumference with the top.  I then folded it up and sewed it in place.  Add the button or other decoration for extra cuteness. 

All done!  I hope this all makes sense.  Let me know if you have any questions!  If you try this out, I would LOVE to see what you came up with!  Link your pictures in a comment!  Don't forget to follow me by clicking "follow" off to the right!

~Briana

Thanksgiving!

 Our house smells like the holiday season!  I can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner and time with family and friends.  Praise God for all He has blessed us with this year.  I am so thankful for my precious family and our new addition!  We will be having our second baby boy in April. I guess I will have to use up all my cute girly fabric on friends :)

 Here is a recent baby girl creation based Aimee Larsen's Kimono shoe pattern: 

 I am in love with baby shoes!  How could you not love them?  I think I will have to work toward creative boy shoes like the ones in the above photo. 

On the craft list now...completing a diaper stash for the new baby!  The cloth diaper world is so overwhelming...did I forget to mention that we are going cloth this time?  It should be fun.  I've finally narrowed down the patterns to the system we seem to like best.  It is a bit hard to figure out without a baby to try it on.  A big thank you to my dear friend for testing my diapers out on her baby boy.  Here is my newest creation:

That is all for tonight! I think I'm going to work on more diapers.  I need to use the fabric I just picked up from Hancock's.  I have a major fabric addiction :)...   Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!
~Briana