How to Knit a Hat Without a Pattern Using Straight Needles

Create your own hat pattern using the yarn and knitting needles you already have at home. For this tutorial you only need basic knitting skills and straight needles.

According to the Gaelic Calendar spring begins on the 1st February in Ireland.

And it’s true, you can find signs of spring appearing everywhere this month. However, winter is still lurking too.

Last year we spotted frog spawn in our pond on Valentine’s Day. This time around we didn’t expect to see any frogs that early because it was still bitter cold. Another cold spell (“the Beast from the East”) froze our pond and there was snow predicted too.

So it seemed like the perfect time to make more hats for everyone.

I decided to use some yarn I had lying around rather than buying new stuff. There were no labels left and I didn’t even know what weight the yarn was. I could only guess.

However, luckily it’s quite easy to knit a hat without a pattern if you are not too afraid of maths (it’s easy, I promise!).

If you don’t have yarn at home you could also unravel an old woolly jumper from the thrift shop or from your own closet that nobody wears anymore. Therefore you could give this sweater a second life by turning it into a couple of hats for your family.

With the following tips you can make your own pattern from any yarn and any needle size you have on hand. So, let’s get started!

Step 1 – Knit a Swatch

First of all you need to find out the gauge for the yarn and needles you are using.

Knit a swatch by casting on 20 stitches (or 25 sts if you are using thinner yarn). Knit about 10 rows in stockinette stitch.

Cast off but don’t cut the yarn. After finding out the gauge you can unravel it and use the yarn for your hat.

Now measure how many stitches you have in 10 cm/ 4 inches.

Step 2 – Find Out the Number of Cast On Stitches

Next measure the head circumference of the person you are knitting for.

And now to the Maths part! I will give you an example to show you how to find out the number of cast on stitches for your hat.

(A) Number of stitches per 10 cm = 14 sts

(B) Length of Swatch = 10 cm

(C) Head Circumference = 57 cm

Calculate as follow: A ÷ B x C

14 ÷ 10 = 1.4

1.4 x 57 = 79.8

I’m rounding 79.8 up to 80 (D).

Also I want the brim of my hat to be a bit tighter than my head circumference because it’s stretchy and should not be too loose.

Therefore I take D and subtract 10 %.

80 – 10 % = 72

72 sts.

To do a rib stitch for your brim you want to have a number that divides by 2 for a 1×1 rib or divides by 4 for a 2×2 rib. You can just round your number down until it fits.

Step 3 – Knit the Brim of the Hat

Next cast on the number of stitches you found out in step 2.

Knit in Rib (1×1 or 2×2) until you are happy with the width of your brim. I usually knit a brim of 5 cm / 2 inches.

Step 4 – Knit the Main Body of the Hat

After knitting the brim begin to make the main body in stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row). In the first two rows increase the number of stitches by 2 like this:

• Row 1: k1fb, knit to end
• Row 2: p1fb, purl to end.

Next knit in stockinette stitch until you are happy with length of the body of your hat. For a normal hat that’s about 10 cm / 4 inches of stockinette stitch. If you want your hat to be more slouchy add a few more cm/ inches to the main body.

Step 5 – Knit the Crown of the Hat

Now you need to start decreasing to shape the crown.

See if you can divide your current number of stitches by 8, 9 or 10.

For example if you had 100 sts you could divide them by 10. So you would decrease like this:

• Row 1: *k8, k2tog* and repeat this step until the end of the row. (90 sts)
• Row 2: purl to end
• Row 3: * k7, k2tog* rep until end (80 sts)
• Row 4: purl
• Row 5: *k6, k2tog* rep until end (70 sts)
• Row 6: purl

… and so on until you have only 10 stitches left on your needle.

If your number doesn’t divide by 8, 9 or 10 like my number 74 does you have to decrease until you get a better number. For 74 I could just decrease 2 stitches in my first row like this:

• Row 1: k2tog, knit until last 2 stitches, k2tog (72 sts)
• Row 2: purl

Now that I have a number that divides by 8 I can decrease the same way as above:

• Row 3: *k6, k2tog* rep until end (63 sts)
• Row 4: purl
• Row 5: *k5, k2tog rep* until end (54 sts)
• Row 6: purl

… and so on until I have 9 stitches left.

Step 6 – Seam your Hat using the Mattress Stitch

Finally you can cut the yarn leaving a long tail to stitch up the hat (about three times the length of your hat should be good).

Thread the tail onto a tapestry needle and go with your needle through all the remaining stitches to secure them all together.

Next line up the seams of your hat and begin sowing them together using the mattress stitch. Here is a simple tutorial that explains how to do the mattress stitch. Weave in all the ends.

And that’s it. You’ve knitted a hat without a pattern!

Oh, and by the way. Just after our week of snow and ice the temperature climbed up. On Valentine’s Day we discovered lots of frogs in our pond again and a day later there was more frog spawn than we ever had before.

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