Super Bulky Knitted Kid’s Hat

In late 2018, I stumbled across Lion Brand’s #hatnothate campaign, a movement geared towards anti-bullying. The founder requested blue hats (the color against bullying… I didn’t know this was a thing, but there it is) to be worn or mailed to their offices. It was too late for me to mail any hats in, but I made a few blue hats and vowed to be more timely this year.

Early 2018 coincided with both 1) the birth of my (miracle!) third baby in 3.5 years and 2) the diagnosis of my 3 year old with autism. It also followed closely on the heels of moving to Slovakia in late 2017. Suffice to say I was quite overwhelmed with life, but the well-being of my children is the first and foremost important priority, especially in a lifestyle as hectic as ours. Thankfully, we have been blessed with a marvelous pre-K teacher for my son, along with friendly and loving classmates. I know the road ahead won’t be easy for him, and his beloved personality quirks may be met with resistance by his future peers. I am ashamed to admit that I have been both bullied and a bullier. The best I can do is to teach my own children to be compassionate and understanding, with the hope that they will grow up to be better adults than me.

I purchased ten #hatnothate wooden tags from the Lion Brand website with the ambitious task of mailing ten blue hats to their New Jersey office before the first of August. My first step was to gather all of my blue scraps. I was thrilled to find that with just a few small balls of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick, I was able to squeeze out three hats!

Here is the ‘quick and dirty’ pattern below, for my own future reference and for you!

MATERIALS

Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick (or other super bulky yarn) – I used scraps of two contrasting colors to make a striped hat

Size 13 circular knitting needles 16″

DPNs, size 13

PATTERN

Using main color, cast on 38 stitches to circular needle

Rows 1-6: alternate k1, p1 (1×1 ribbing)

Rows 7-8: knit around

Rows 9-10: switch to second color, knit around

Rows 11-12: switch back to main color, knit around

Continue with stripes until you have seven stripes total, ending with a stripe of main color

Row 21: switch to second color, knit around

Row 22: continuing with second color, k2, k2tog (you will have 2 stitches at the end of the row, knit each stitch individually)

Row 23: switch to main color, knit around

Row 24: k1, k2tog (knit last two stitches individually)

Row 25: switch to second color AND knit onto DPNs

Row 26: k2tog

Cut yarn, weave tail through remaining live stitches and cinch tightly. Fasten off.

Notes: when knitting stripes in the round, carry the alternate color up on the right side every time you switch colors. This prevents gaps. Give the yarn a little tug to tighten up the last stitch from 2 rows below and with the bulky yarn there was barely a noticeable jog in the stripes.