Skinny Striped Hat Knitting Pattern

Skinny Striped Hat in Blue Sky Fibers Skinny Cotton

What is Being Made

This is a knitted striped hat designed by Alison Williams, featuring a classic ribbed construction with contrasting color stripes. The pattern offers four size options to fit toddler, child, woman, and man head circumferences ranging from approximately 16 to 22 inches. The finished hat measures between 7½ to 10½ inches wide (when laying flat) and 6½ to 8 inches in length, depending on the selected size.

Knitting Techniques Used

This advanced beginner project employs fundamental circular knitting techniques. The hat is constructed in the round using a combination of circular needles and double-pointed needles, which is a standard approach for crown-down hat construction. The pattern utilizes decrease rounds to shape the crown, gradually reducing stitches as the knitter works toward the top. The ribbed texture is maintained throughout most of the hat before transitioning to stockinette stitch decreases for the crown shaping. Knitters will practice stretching ribbing to lay flat during measurement, an important finishing technique for achieving accurate gauge and finished dimensions.

Stitches and Pattern Details

The primary stitch pattern is a Rib Pattern Stitch worked as *P3, K2, repeat from * around, creating vertical lines of texture. The hat features a Stripe Sequence of 7 rounds in main color (MC) followed by 1 round in contrasting color (CC1), which repeats throughout the ribbed section. Decrease rounds incorporate K2tog (knit 2 stitches together) and P2tog (purl 2 stitches together) techniques to gradually shape the crown. The cast-on uses 85 to 115 stitches depending on size, and the pattern progresses through multiple decrease rounds that reduce stitches to 68, 51, 34, 17, and finally 9 to 12 stitches at the crown top.

Materials and Tools

This pattern calls for Blue Sky Skinny Dyed Cotton yarn, requiring 1 hank each of main color (MC), contrasting color 1 (CC1), and contrasting color 2 (CC2). The suggested color combinations include a boy's version featuring French Blue #316, Glacier #301, and Gravel #314, and a girl's version with Cherry #309, Coffee #310, and Coral #317. Knitters will need Size 6 (4mm) circular needles in a 12-inch length and a Size 6 (4mm) set of double-pointed needles, with needle size adjustable to obtain proper gauge. Additional tools include a stitch marker and tapestry needle for finishing.