Stocking Hat Knitting Pattern

The stocking hat, or stocking cap, is the most basic of knitted hats - just a stretchy cup that fits over your head. It goes by many names - beanie, watch cap, ski hat, and more. There are probably as many stocking hat knitting patters as there are knitters, and you can make them in any yarn or color your heart desires.

There are two basic types of stocking hat knitting patterns - top down, and bottom up.  In the top down variety, you cast on a small number of stitches and distribute them evenly on double-pointed needles, then perform your favorite style of increase to make the diameter of the hat bigger: "Knit front and back" (also called a bar increase), "make one", or "yarnovers", for example. When your knitting is large enough, transfer it from DPNs to a circular needle.  When the hat has reached the appropriate diameter for your head or a gift recipient's head, then you just need to work evenly until it is the length you desire. You can make the hat quite shallow, to just perch on the top of the head. As an alternative, you can also make a long tube of it that can be folded or rolled to increase how well it clings to the head, as well as providing more warmth over the ears and the back of the neck.

The second type, bottom up knitting, is just the opposite - begin with a number of stitches to fit the head circumference on a circular needle, work evenly in the round for as long as desired, then begin using your favorite decreases: "knit two together (k2tog)", "slip slip knit (SSK)", "slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over (SKP)" or another style. When it gets too small to work on the circular needle, transfer it to double-pointed needles.

A stocking hat knitting pattern is often the best place to try out new techniques, as the projects are quick and easy, and the rows not so long as to be exhausting (as a sweater, shawl or afghan can be). You can try out cabling, which is not nearly as complicated as some would have you believe, and turn out some lovely fishermen's style caps.  You can try intarsia or fair isle knitting, which creates designs of a different color embedded into your main color.  You can try double knitting, in which you alternate a foreground and a background color, creating mirror images of the knitted design on the interior and exterior of the hat. You can try entrelac knitting, mosaic knitting, and more!