We send our children well wrapped to school in the morning. But what is often forgotten in the cloakroom and only shows up in the treasure chest weeks later? Exactly - the hat. However, children's hats in bright colors, great patterns and shapes are hard to miss and are loved by young and old alike. Here you will find an overview of the appropriate sizes and variations. But beware! There is a risk of addiction in view of the many possibilities.
The right size
Knitting children's hats according to the instructions is not difficult and offers many possibilities. Each cap can be roughly divided into three areas. The cuff, the pattern area and the cap. But before you start, you have to find out the correct number of stitches. For knitting children's hats, this size table is a good starting point for finding out how many stitches you cast on. You should make sure that the cuff is snug and not too loose. Otherwise it will slip into your forehead later. Depending on your own knitting technique, you may sometimes need more or fewer stitches. You can find out how to calculate the circumference of your hat yourself here.
|
head circumference (cm) |
needle size |
Stitches for the cuff |
|
44 |
3 |
96 |
|
4 |
84 |
|
|
5 |
72 |
|
|
6 |
60 |
|
|
7 |
48 |
|
|
50 |
3 |
112 |
|
4 |
96 |
|
|
5 |
84 |
|
|
6 |
68 |
|
|
7 |
56 |
|
|
54 |
3 |
120 |
|
4 |
104 |
|
|
5 |
88 |
|
|
6 |
72 |
|
|
7 |
60 |
Knit the cuff
It is best to choose an elastic pattern for the cuff. The mesh structure contracts slightly, which means that the cuff fits snugly on the head without the risk of slipping. The standard pattern for this would be alternating a knit stitch, a purl stitch. You can of course vary the cuff as you wish. Everything is possible, from double ribs to false brioche and braid patterns. The height of the cuff is a matter of taste. For children's hats, it can be about 3 to 6 cm.
Knit the pattern section
Once you have knitted the cuff, you start seamlessly with the main part of your children's hat. Here you can let off steam with different patterns and color gradients. The only thing to keep in mind is that the total stitch count of your hat can be divided by the stitch count of the particular pattern. If you knit a hat where the number of stitches does not match the pattern, there will inevitably be complications in the course of the round. You either change the number of stitches or adjust the pattern accordingly.
Cap pattern
Would you like to knit fun children's hats, or would you like to stick with the classic version? There is the perfect yarn for everything. A particularly colorful gradient yarn works very well with simpler patterns. This is a great way to show off the colors. On the topic of knitting children's hats according to instructions, many patterns online can be found free of charge. We would like to give you a brief overview of the most common patterns here:
Garter stitch
The most classic version of a hat. You probably already know that. If you knit in rows, you only need knit stitches. You knit a row, then turn and knit a row back. With a hat, however, you usually knit in the round. You cannot turn your work around here. Mark the beginning of the round with a stitch marker and knit one row and purl the next row. This will give you a ruffled pattern without turning. You can knit your children's hat with circular knitting needles or with normal knitting needles.
pearl stitch
Moss stitch is another easy knitting pattern. The pattern is so easy to knit because it only consists of alternating knit and purl stitches. Depending on how you combine the two types of stitches, you will get either the small or the large moss stitch.
The small moss stitch is quick to knit. A right and a left stitch alternate again and again. In the following row, the stitches are knitted in reverse. That means in plain language: A right stitch is followed by a left stitch and vice versa. The large moss stitch is a simple doubling of the small moss stitch. Instead of a knit stitch and a purl stitch, two knit stitches and two purl stitches are repeated and worked over two rows. So you always work two consecutive rows in the same way, and only then in reverse
Ribbed pattern
Even with the rib pattern, you only need purl and knit stitches. Depending on the combination, either longitudinal or transverse ribs are created.
For longitudinal ribs, repeat the following two rows over and over.
1. Row: alternately knit one stitch and purl three stitches
2. Row: alternately knit three stitches and purl one stitch
For cross ribs, for example, you knit the first four rows in garter stitch. You only knit rows five to ten on the right. You can now repeat this pattern over and over again.
Knit the cap
So that your hat doesn't look like a tube and can adapt well to the child's head, you have to make decreases in the area of the hat cap. There are also various options for this.
The rapid decline:
In this variant, you knit in straight rounds almost to the top edge of the hat. Now this technique lives up to its name, because two stitches are knitted together and thus decreased. The number of stitches is halved in one fell swoop. Now you can either decrease another row using the same technique, or pull the remaining stitches together after the first row. To make your hat even more individual, you can sew a bobble to the top.
The slow decline:
If you want a cap that tapers less quickly, you have to decrease much more slowly.This means that you should always insert several rows without decreases between the rows of decreases, and not immediately halve the number of stitches. It is better to only knit the first two stitches of a needle together. This reduces the stitch count by four stitches.
Thanks to these many different variants of cuffs, pattern and cap, you can put together your perfect children's hat yourself, just like with a construction kit. Depending on your mood, the craziest and most colorful hats are created for your loved ones.
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