Winter means hat knitting, and here
at
Knitting Daily, we want to make sure you have several knitted hat patterns
to choose from! Keep your ears warm with these seven hat-knitting patterns,
yours for FREE
!
Make Knitted Hats: 7 Free Knitted Hat Patterns
Ann Budd modeled her RIDGED HELMET HAT after some close-fitting hats she's seen pictured on children in
1940s-era knitting books. But the luscious alpaca yarn Ann used is much softer
and more comfortable around the face than the scratchy wool used way back then.
The hat is worked "inside out" so you can knit more rows than you purl.
Three three-color braided tassels add a flash of color and bit of fun.
For the ANDEAN EARFLAP Hat, Mary Jane
Mucklestone took inspiration from one of her
favorite knitting books,
Andean Folk
Knitting, Traditions and Techniques from Peru and Bolivia (Cynthia Gravelle LeCount, Dos
Tejedoras, 1990). For her hat she chose an adaptation of Earflap #10. She
picked a familiar Shetland diamond for the colorwork motif and worked it in
stranded stockinette, which created long floats on the first and last rows of
the motif. Take care to carry the unused color loosely on these rows.
Lisa Shroyer formed
the earflaps on ARMY GIRL EARFLAP by "bending" the lower edge of the hat with shaping: decreases along the
centerline of the flaps make them curve downward, while increases curve the
center back neck upwards. The flared effect of the earflaps, combined with the
round crown and strong line across the forehead, gives this hat a military
look. The color of the yarn "girls it up" a bit, but choosing another color
could easily give it guy appeal.
RYAN'S HAT by Pam Allen is worked
from the top down. After years of working hats from rim to crown, and ending up with hats
that were too tight, too loose, too short, and/or too long, Pam now makes her
hats from the top down—a pretty much foolproof method for getting a hat to fit.
As for earflap hats, she loves the traditional ones with bright colors and bold
geometric patterns. The colors in this particular version were chosen by Pam's
son, Ryan, who insists that even in sunny California, it's still hat weather
from time to time.
The yarn in Sandi
Wiseheart's ENCHANTED EVENING EAR COVERING is actually made up of three different yarns: a railroad
ribbon, a multi-hued silky twist, and a lovely merino. The drape of the yarn
wouldn't work well for a traditional earflap hat, so she decided to let the yarn
guide her. She ended up with a simple mobius loop that is both dressy and
practical. I like to think of this as an earflap hat to wear with pearls and a
little black (or blue!) dress.
Meema Spadola's EARFLAP HAT is inspired by her Granny's backyard
berry patch filled with raspberry, blackberry, and elderberry bushes. Although
this hat is designed to be worn long after the berries are gone (or bottled up
as jelly), this should bring back some tasty summer memories. Meema made
extra-long I-cord ties for fun, but you can always make them shorter.
It wasn't until after
Cyrene
Slegona finished
knitting the PENOBSCOT BAY HAT that she realized that
the color arrangement she used reflects the colorscape she sees when she looks
across the islands of Penobscot Bay in Maine on a sunny day-puffs of white
against a variety of blues. The finishing pom-pom is like a crowning cloud. The
combination of a simple but interesting pattern made this a peaceful project.
Download your free copy of
Make Knitted Hats: 7 Free Knitted Hat Patterns
now!
Hats off to you,
Knitting Daily reader!
Cheers,
