Knitters usually remember their first knitting project. It’s nearly always a tiny little baby doll blanket or a 10 foot long scarf riddled with mistakes that was the bane of that knitter’s existence. It’s a bit unfair really. So I set out to make something that would encourage a beginning knitter, give them something useful right from the first project, and still require only the most basic skills. This little hat was born, which I have been shoving over my children’s ears at every chance I get because it gives me a giggle to see them bobbing around in it. (Right? So cute.)

When I posted a picture of this adorable finished hat on Instagram, someone asked me if I was going to write a pattern for it. Here is the thing: this ridiculously adorable hat does not warrant a pattern, because it is SO. Darn. SIMPLE. So consider this a recipe, an idea with helpful links to help beginning knitters on their way. As such, it is a bare bones idea and NOT a pattern that will receive pattern support.

Feel free to use this idea when next you make another knitter! They’ll thank you for the fact that their first project was not a 10 foot scarf but instead a satisfying little hat.