How do I Knit Baby Hats?

You can knit baby hats even if your knitting experience is very limited. There are many easy baby hat patterns to choose from, but make sure you start with a simple pattern if you're a beginner. If you're a more experienced knitter, you can experiment with more complicated patterns such as those in which you follow a charted pattern and use several different colors of yarn.

Baby hats are so small and cute just knitted in a simple pattern that they really don't need to be highly detailed to look attractive. A great tip to follow when you knit baby hats for the first time is to choose a multi-colored yarn. The effects of the different pastel colors in multi-colored, or variegated, baby yarn are usually very beautiful and have almost a water color appearance. More experienced knitters may want to choose a solid color of yarn and knit a baby hat in a textured or cabled stitch pattern. A variety of textured knitting patterns can be created through different combinations of knit and purl stitches, while vertical twisted cables are made by using an extra needle and crossing some stitching from the regular needles over to it.

If you're a newer knitter who has difficulty creating patterns to their suggested gauge, don't let this keep you from your desire to knit baby hats. A baby hat takes very little time and yarn to make; making these little hats can help you practice knitting to gauge. Knitting to gauge means finding the correct size of needles and width of yarn to reach the amount of stitches per inch or centimeter as specified in a pattern's instructions. Every pattern specifies the yarn and needle size used to create the finished item, however, individual knitting varies depending on how loose or tight a person pulls the loops and stitches onto the needles. This fluctuation can create different sizes of knit fabric, and thus a different garment size, than that of the original knitting pattern.

As long as your knit baby hats are shaped according to the knitting pattern, they are likely to fit an infant or toddler of some size. You can compare your finished hat size with those from children's clothing stores to give you an idea of what age of child your cap is likely to fit. A knitted baby hat pattern can look just as adorable on a toddler or preschool child. If you knit the original infant hat pattern too large, it may fit a toddler well; if instead, your finished cap is smaller than intended, it may be better suited for a newborn.

Being creative can allow you to turn plain knitted infant hats into adorable creations. For instance, if you try knitting small pieces that look like stems, leaves and animal ears in contrasting colors to your knit baby hats, you can sew these on top to make your caps even cuter. For example, an orange baby hat with a green stem becomes a pumpkin, while a white knitted cap with triangular ears and a nose, plus pieces of yarn for whiskers, create a cat. These creative hand-knitted hats can make ideal baby gifts.