The Andersen Beanie – baby and toddler bobble hats, knit flat

Bobble hats – I just can’t get enough of them!

When it come to favourite things to knit in a spare few hours, super chunky bobble hats are my go-to. So when our neighbours had a new baby, it didn’t take me long to decide what I was going to make for them!

After messing around with a few different colours, I took a trip to Fielders in Wimbledon (amazing little art and crafts shop, definitely recommend!) and discovered Rico Creative Bonbon Super Chunky Yarn. There was an abundance of colours to choose from, and so I decided to make two hats (our neighbours have a little girl too), and opted for turquoise, fuschia and natural.

I’m slightly obsessed with this wool – only the thought of my husband’s reaction stopped me from buying every colour that they had in stock (our house is pretty much bursting at the seams already!)

Anyway, onto the pattern!

Size: I’ve shown the number of stitches needed for baby-size, with toddler in brackets

Needles: 9mm straight knitting needles, plus yarn needle for sewing up at the end

Yarn: 1 ball of super chunky wool (I went for Rico Creative Bonbon) for first colour, and different shade for the second colour. You don’t need much from each ball – mine were 100m each, and I have loads left.

Directions:

Cast on 34 (40) stitches, starting with your first colour

Row 1: Knit all stitches

Row 2-8: *k2, p1* to the end of the row (7 rows of ribbing)

Then switch to your second colour…

Row 9: Knit all stitches

Row 10: Purl all stitches

Repeat rows 9 and 10 for 5 (6) more times, giving you a total of 12 (14) rounds of stockinette.

Then decrease for the crown of the hat as follows:

K1, and then *K2tog* until one stitch before the end of the row, k1 (18, 21 stitches)

Purl all stitches

K1, then *K2tog* until one (two) stitch(es) before the end of the row, k1(2) – (10, 11 stitches)

Purl all stitches

K1, then *K2tog* until one (two) stitch(es) before the end of the row (6 stitches)

Cut your thread leaving approximately 40cm tail, and pull it through the remaining stitches.

Take your yarn needle, and sew the sides together using mattress stitch. I swapped yarn quite frequently here to make sure that the shades matched.

Making your pom-pom:

Get your chosen yarn, and wind it around three finger, leaving a 15cm length at the end for sewing it onto the hat. I went for about 200 winds, but you can vary it depending on how big you want the pom-pom to be. Then take a separate piece of thread and tie it through the middle of the wool – your pom-pom is now secure, so you can slide it off your fingers.

Now for the messy bit – I’d advise doing this over a bin! Get your scissors through the loops, and cut round the pom-pom. Once you’ve done this, keep trimming round the strands until your pom-pom is nice and even – kind of like giving it a hair cut! Make sure that you don’t cut off the long end that you need for sewing.

Once you’re happy with your pom-pom, sew it onto the top of your hat, using the long end that hopefully survived the hair cut. If it didn’t, you can just sew a new length of yarn through the middle of the pom-pom.

And there you have it – a beautiful, snuggly, pint-size bobble hat!

Happy knitting! For more free knitting patterns and craft inspiration, you can find me on Instagram as @craftitlikekatie – tag me in your makes!