Welcome to week 4 of 12 Weeks of Beanies! This free beginner knit beanie pattern is part of a knit and crochet pattern series designed for the beginner knitter or crocheter. Every new knitter or crocheter needs an easy, yet beautiful, project to learn new stitches and new techniques as they practice their knitting or crocheting, and this free beginner knit beanie pattern keeps things interesting while still being easy to memorize.
Beanie No 4 was designed to add texture to your life while only using basic knitting stitches. This beanie is also a great introduction on how to make mirrored decreases. Don’t let that scare you away though! If you know how to knit, purl, and slip a stitch, then you’ll be ready to make this free beginner knit beanie pattern. I’ve included tutorials on how to work twisted rib, how to knit 2 stitches together, and how to SSK (slip, slip, knit) so you can decrease through the crown with confidence!
Have I also mentioned the ENTIRE beanie series is FREE? Yep!! You’ll find every single one of the 12 Weeks of Beanies hats for free on my blog. This is the fourth pattern in the series, and if you don’t want to miss out when a new patterns drops, you can sign up for my newsletter below.
AND I have a little surprise for ya too – I plan to make these 12 beanie patterns into an eBook that you can purchase from my website or on Ravelry.com once they’ve all been published here on my blog! The eBook will be professionally formatted, include a range of sizes for each beanie pattern, and be a great collection of beanies you can refer to every year for personal and gift crocheting or knitting.
Instructions include:
- Construction + Fit/Ease
- Yarn Notes
- Yarn Amounts
- Hook Size
- Notions Required
- Gauge
- Sizes
- Hat Schematic
- Swatching Notes & Directions
- Stitch Abbreviations
- Special Stitches
- Tutorials
- Notes
- The Beanie Pattern!
- Finishing Notes
- Copyright Notes
Disclaimer: Some of the links included in this pattern are sponsored links, which means that if you choose to click on them, I’ll receive compensation from the company at no cost to you. By clicking on these links, you’ll help me be able to continue providing free patterns. It’s a win/win for both of us!
Construction + Fit/Ease
Beanie No 4 is constructed bottom up in the round. It starts with a 1×1 twisted rib brim and then moves into the textured body of the beanie. Decreases as worked slowly through the crown and then finished by weaving in the yarn through the last 10 stitches. The hat has a negative ease of 2” to keep it snug and tight over your ears for maximum warmth.
Yarn Notes
I dug into my stash yarn for this hat and ended up using a size 4 medium weight yarn with some gentle heathering in it. It’s from Lion Brand yarn and called Heartland in the color Great Smoky Mountains. It’s a budget yarn which is great when you need a quick project that won’t break the bank. Some other great yarn choices for this hat include:
$$$ Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino from Shop La Mercerie – this yarn is a DREAM if you want to splurge just a tiny bit for an extra special gift
$$ Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn from Joann’s – this one is a great choice if you love wool yarns but want something a little more budget-friendly
$ Lion Brand Heartland yarn from Joann’s – this is the one I used from my stash
Yarn Amounts
*FYI – The yarn amounts listed here include enough yarn to make a good-sized swatch in the round.
- Main Color: 1 skein medium weight Heartland yarn in color Great Smoky Mountains, 100% Acrylic, 5oz (142g) / 251yd(230m)
Needles
Size US 7 (4.25 mm) 16 inch circular needles
Size US 7 (4.25mm) DPNs or Size US 7 (4.25mm) 40 inch circular needles for magic loop
Notions
2 locking stitch markers
Embroidery Needle for weaving in ends
Gauge
20 stitches x 42 rows = 4”x4”
- 5 stitches per inch
- 10.5 rows per inch
NOTE: I realize this gauge seems a little strange, but when I swatched, I found the purl rows were much shorter than the knit rows, thus making the number of rows much higher per inch.
Schematic
Sizes
Child Size Large/Adult Size Small to fit head circumferences 21”
- Finished circumference 19”
- Height from Crown to Brim = 9”
Swatch Notes
The swatch is worked in the round using the DPNs or the 40 inch circular if you want to magic loop in the round. For my swatch I made the twisted rib first to make sure it looked good with the textured stitch, but you don’t need to do that. You can just work the textured stitch pattern since that is what the gauge is based on.
Swatch Directions
This swatch is worked in the round on DPNs or using magic loop.
- Set Up Row: Co 48 stitches. Join to work in the round and place a stitch marker to designate BOR.
- Round 1 (RS): *K1, repeat from * around. 48 sts.
- Round 2: *P1, sl1 wyif, repeat from * around. 48 sts.
- Round 3: *K1, repeat from * around. 48 sts.
- Round 4: *Sl1 wyif, P1, repeat from * around. 48 sts.
- Repeat rounds 1-4 (11) more times for a total of 48 rows. Bind off, block.
Stitch Abbreviations
- BOR = beginning of round
- CO = cast on
- K = knit
- K1tbl = knit 1 stitch through the back loop
- K2tog = knit two together
- MC = main color
- P = purl
- Sl = slip one stitch; for this pattern you will always slip stitches purlwise
- SSK – slip, slip, knit
- RS = right side
- WS = wrong side
- Wyif = with yarn in front
Special Stitches
K1tbl = insert your needle purlwise into the back leg of the knit stitch, knit the stitch
K2tog = knit two stitches together: insert your right needle from left to right (knitwise) into the second stitch on the left needle and then into the first stitch on the left hand needle, then knit the two stitches together. See tutorial below.
SSK = insert needle knitwise into the first stitch on the left needle and slip it to the right needle; repeat with the second stitch on the left needle; insert your left needle knitwise into the two slipped stitches on the right needle, knit the two stitches together. See tutorial below.
Tutorials
How to Slip a Stitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQ9HqCpy4U
How to SSK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg1ykku04is
How to K2tog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Ko-GJ8Vbk
How to K1tbl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gwR-JIkK6k
Notes
*Always slip stitches purlwise with yarn in front.
Pattern
Brim
Foundation Row (RS): CO 95 sts. Join by passing the first stitch to the left hand needle, pass the last co stitch over the first stitch and off the needle. Place a marker to designate the BOR, and place a marker between sts 47 and 48 to designate the halfway point. 94 sts.
Round 1 (RS): *K1, P1, repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Round 2: *K1tbl, P1, repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Rounds 3-9: Repeat round 2. 94 sts.
Move to Body.
Body
Round 10: *K1, repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Round 11: *P1, Sl1 wyif, repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Round 12: *K1, repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Round 13: *Sl1 wyif, P1, *repeat from * around. 94 sts.
Repeat rounds 11-13 (8) more times for a total of 36 rounds in the body section, or repeat rounds 11-13 until hat measures 4 inches (10 cm) long from co row.
Move to Crown Decreases.
Crown Decreases
Round 1: K2tog, K44, K2tog, K to BOR. 92 sts.
Round 2: *Sl1 wyif, P1, repeat from * around. 92 sts.
Round 3: *K2tog, K to 2 stitches before the halfway marker, SSK, slip the marker, K2tog, repeat from * one more time. 88 sts.
Round 4: *Sl1 wyif, P1, repeat from * around. 88 sts.
Repeat rounds 3 & 4 until you have 40 stistches on your needles, ending with round 4, and switching to DPNs or magic loop as you need to.
Next Round: K2tog around, repeating from * until you have 10 sts left on your needles.
Final Round: Weave yarn through the 10 sts and pull tight to close the crown.
Move to Finishing.
Finishing
Weave in ends. Block as desired.
Copyright Notes
It’s not nice to copy other people’s work so let’s not do that! All text and photos copyright 2022 by Regarding Yarn. No part of this pattern may be duplicated or sold. Final products made from this pattern are for personal use only and may not be sold.
