An Ugly Hat: A Lesson Learned or FREE PATTERN FRIDAY

Yesterday I was having one of those days where I was frustrated with life for no particular reason. So when Little Man finally took a really good afternoon nap, I knitted. I'd been itching to do some stranded work because it's everywhere right now. In Knitting Daily. On Adam Knits. On beckyknitstoo. I wanted to do some stranded work and I wanted to do it now.

And since I didn't have the yarn or the time to do this:

I decided to make my old favorite: the baby hat. I had been playing around with a few ideas in my head and had to get the ideas out. I wanted to make a "rick rack" hat using this simple geometric pattern from Kate Buller's Style Your Own Kids' Knits:

I've added stranded work to both Barb's Baby Twizzle Hat by Barb Beukema and the Simple Hat pattern from Itty-Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson. This time I wanted a little different design. So I gathered up some yarn from my stash (leftover from Little Man's Halloween costume) and started knitting a Haley-original hat.

The hat pattern turned out okay, but my color choices went slightly astray and I made:

the ugly hat!

The stranded work is not my best. It's a bit wonky in places and as I mentioned the colors are not great... But, on a happy note, I created a new hat pattern with a good shape. To give credit where credit is due: The brim is a pseudo-rolled brim inspired by Barb's Baby Twizzle Hat. It rolls less than the ones used in Itty-Bitty Hats. The top shaping was adapted from the hats in Itty-Bitty Hats. I've posted the pattern below. If you change the colors and use nicer yarn, I think it will be a very nice little baby hat.

FREE UGLY BABY HAT PATTERN

(great for using up leftover yarn)

3-6 month size

Materials:

worsted weight yarn (small amount of as many colors as you want)

Size 7 16" circular needles

Size 7 double point needles

Directions:

Cast on 70 stitches in blue or your first color. (I perfer to use the long-tail or thumb method, but any method is fine.)

Join carefully, placing a marker at the beginning of the round, and knit in the round for 6 rounds.

Purl for 4 rounds. (This will complete the brim.)

Knit 2 rounds. (These are the first two rows of the body of the hat.)

Complete the body of the hat by knitting 22 more rounds using the chart below for color guidance. Start at the bottom of the chart and work your way up.

Top of Hat Shaping

(Done in the orange or whatever color you used last in the body of the hat.)

(Knit 5, Knit 2 together) 10 times

Knit 2 rounds.

Move to doublepoint needles during this round.

On first needle: (Knit 4, Knit 2 together) 3 times.

On second needle: (Knit 4, Knit 2 together) 3 times.

On third needle: (Knit 4, Knit 2 together) 4 times.

Knit 2 rounds.

(Knit 3, Knit 2 together) 10 times

Knit 1 round

(Knit 2, Knit 2 together) 10 times

(Knit 1, Knit 2 together) 10 times

(Knit 2 together) 10 times

Cut the yarn, leaving a 6 in. tail. Using a yarn needle, thread the yarn through the remaining stitches. Pull the stitches closed and weave the yarn end into the inside of the hat.

This is my first time ever writing my own pattern so please let me know if there are mistakes or if anything is confusing. I'd really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

So Lesson Learned:

It's probably best to plan before knitting. But if you don't plan, use cheap yarn from your stash and you'll be none the worse for wear.