Knitting Pattern · Cloud Friends Hat

Ahhh, Nothing gets you longing for Christmas, snow, chilly days and wintry walks like a cosy bobble hat. What’s even better than that is when they’re on everyone’s head, and that’s why I designed this chunky hat for both big and little kids! This adorable pattern is not only ideal for advanced beginners, but super quick to make – if you need a fast gift idea this is the one for you – and looks way more complicated that it actually is!

If you’re new to the world of knitting and are a bit bored of making endless scarves and potholders, this simple hat is perfect for expanding your skill set and exploring techniques such as Fair Isle knitting using a chart. I hope you enjoy working up this satisfying project and experimenting with colour to make your own Cloud Friends Hat!

Cloud Friends Hat

Level: Advanced Beginner

Sizing: Consult this guide for detailed sizing information.

Gauge: 8 stitches, 12 rows to 10cm/4″

You will need:

16″ 10.00mm & 9.00mm (US 14 & 15) circular needles, a stitch marker, scissors, a tapestry needle (ideally one with a collapsible eye), one and a half balls of Millamia Naturally Soft Super Chunky (100g in main colour, 50g in secondary colour), approx 20-50g of scrap chunky yarn for pom-pom (I used Katia Alaska in Off-White), XL pom-pom maker.

Skills:

Long-tail cast on, bind off, joining in the round using the gapless/invisible method, knit stitch, purl stitch, Fair Isle knitting using a chart, K2tog decrease, making a pom pom, seaming, weaving in ends.

Size: Child (4-6 years) Adult – Instructions for the adult size are given in italics and underlined.

Notes:

Worked from bottom to top, we’ll work a few rounds of 1×1 ribbing before continuing wuth a few rounds of stockinette (knitting every stitch) around. Then we shall work our Fair Isle design with colour two, start decreasing, seam and add our big pompom on top. When working Fair Isle, remember to keep your stitches fairly loose. It takes a while to perfect this technique, so if you’re new to it don’t worry if your stitches look less than even. Always remember to err on the side of loose tension, don’t pull too tightly, and use stitch markers to mark the beginning and ends of the chart on your work if it helps to keep tracks of where you are. Are you finding the adult sized hat a bit too snug? You can easily make the size bigger by adding 2+1 extra stitches when you cast on.

Chart (Four round, six stitch repeat):

In this case, pink is my main colour and blue the secondary one. Your colours will be different depending on the shades you choose, so do bear this in mind.

Method:

Cast on 37 (43) stitches onto the 9.00mm/US 14 circular needle and join using the invisible join method (36) (42). Place marker and pull the tail end to tighten.

Knit 1, purl 1* to end for six rounds.

Change to 10.00/US 15 circular needles and work eight rounds in stockinette stitch (knit every stitch).

Now, pick up your secondary colour yarn and start working the colours according to the chart.

TIP! If it helps, from the beginning of the round place a stitch marker every 6th stitch so you can keep track of where you are.

After this, knit in stockinette until the piece measures 7.”/18cm for kids size or 8.25″/21cm for adults.

For the next round, k2tog every stitch.

Knit one round plain.

Bind off all stitches, seam together by weaving the yarn under each stitch and pulling tight. Weave in ends securely.

Make a pom-pom and attach it by sewing both ends through either end of the seamed part of the top of the hat. Thread the yarn upwards up and through the centre of the pom-pom, trimming these ends to match the length of the pom-pom.

You’re done! Don’t forget to tag your projects with #Cloudfriendshat (Yes, I know this hashtags looks a bit dodgy) on Instagram so I can check out your lovely work!