Easy Cable Knit: Child’s Hat

I need to knit a child’s hat – fast! Hubs and I recently joined my son and his two daughters on an excursion to the experimental farm to pick carrots. I noticed that the little one was wearing a hat that was clearly too small! Grandma alert!

I’m still in my “easy” knitting pattern stage. Granted, I have done some cables for a set of leggings, but one legging was kinda wonky. So this pattern for a child’s hat is both simple enough and appropriate for the upcoming weather. Also, I can practice my cables in a light, non-threatening way AND make my first fully “in-the-round” project.

I have been using my wonderful Chiaogoo circular needles for a while now, but I use the magic loop method rather than a full circular project. This was my first time working actually in the round. Yeeha!

The pattern calls for…

As recommended in the pattern, I used 16″ circular needles size US8 and US7 and the Drops Air yarn. It was a lovely soft almost fluffy texture. The colour range was excellent and I selected a lovely pink and denim blue. I made two sizes in two colours. Basic ribbing in the smaller needles and then stocking stitch to cables. I used the 3 needle bind off too. So fast and easy – even for me as a newbie. The cables were perfect – well I didn’t make any mistakes although my tension maybe wasn’t perfect. For the second hat, I used the additional tip from VeryPink Knits to cinch up the stitches when switching between purling and knitting to mitigate the gap. Seems to have helped.

The back was just plain stocking stitch so with the circular needles, I finished the hat in a few hours. They look best when worn because the fit is snug around the head making the two little kitty ears stand up better.

The pattern itself was very professionally written with clear instructions for both knitting flat and in the round. The 7 sizes ranged from all the way from NB to adult. The pattern also included links to videos for some of the instructions too. Altogether, I’d say a successful project with a cuteness factor of 10/10.