Fair isle looks tricky, but two-colour patterns are a great way to get yourself going. In reality, if you can knit a basic bobble hat, this isn’t actually much of a step up – but it certainly looks like one. And it’s incredibly satisfying seeing the pattern emerge as you complete each new round!

Despite this being my first fair isle design, I’m not actually much of a cyclist myself (no comments please from people who have seen me attempt a bike ride in recent years!) – but lots of my family and friends are much more proficient, so it’s proving a popular pattern for the winter season.

Note – this hat is designed to fit the average female head – if you’re looking to knit a man-sized number, I’d recommend sizing up to 5mm needles and an appropriate yarn to go with this. Both my husband and I managed to wear the original size, but we come from a household of relatively small heads!

What you’ll need:

• 4mm circular knitting needles (or 5mm for the bigger heads amongst us!)
• DK yarn for Colour A (c.185m)
• DK yarn for Colour B (c.75m)
• Yarn needle

Things to know:

• Gauge: 4cm = 11 stitches and 11 rows in main pattern (knit stitch) on 4mm needles

How it’s done:

Knitting the brim:

• Cast on 104 stitches in Colour A
• (K2, P2) in the round until work measures approx. 13cm

Main pattern:

• Knit one round, increasing by one stitch so that you have 105 stitches.
• Join your second colour (Colour B) for the next round
• Follow the pattern below, using Colour A for the background and Colour B for the detail, repeating it 3 times for each round (3 sets of a 35 stitch pattern)

Decrease for crown:

• Tie off Colour B
• Continuing in Colour A, knit 3 more rounds. At this point, your hat should measure c. 20cm with the brim folded over [Note – if you’d like to add extra length to your hat, you can add additional rounds of knit stitch in Colour A here]
• First round of decreases: (K1, K2tog) to end – 70 stitches remaining
• Knit one round
• Second round of decreases: K2tog to end – 35 stitches remaining
• Knit one round
• Third round of decreases: K2tog until 1 stitch before the end, then K1 – 18 stitches remaining
• Cut yarn, leaving about 30cm tail. Draw yarn through remaining stitches, fasten, weave in ends, and attach your pom-pom

And here you have it – one perfectly formed bicycle hat! You can add a bobble at the end if that’s your vibe, or leave as is.

Happy knitting, and as always, please send me your photos of anything you’ve tried – you can also find me on Instagram as @craftitlikekatie

This beanie pattern is one of my favourites this year, and is easy to master whether you’re a cable expert or just learning. Like all of my new patterns, it’s named after one of my favourite authors – this one’s the Westover Beanie after Tara Westover, whose brilliant memoir ‘Educated’ we read at our book club a few months ago. Highly recommend!

This was also my first time using Malabrigo yarn – I spent all week on a significant money diet to justify buying it, and it was quite literally like unwrapping a woolly ball of joy. Must not become an addict…

Anyway, one Westover Beanie pattern, coming up…if you have go, please send me your photos!

You will need:

• 9mm circular knitting needles
• 10mm circular knitting needles
• Cable needle
• 1 skein of super chunky yarn – Malabrigo or Rico Super Super Chunky Yarn work well
• Yarn for your pom-pom – I used a John Lewis Habico faux fur one for the purple hat, and my favourite Sirdar Alpine Luxe Fur Effect Yarn for the green pom-pom at the bottom
• Sharp scissors for making your pom-pom
• Yarn needle for attaching your pom-pom

Abbreviations:

• K1 = knit one
• P1 = purl one
• K2tog = knit two together
• C2F = slip two sts on to the cable needle, bring them to the front of your work, knit the next two, then knit the stitches on your cable needle
• C2B = slip two sts on to the cable needle, bring them to the back of your work, knit the next two, then knit the stitches on your cable needle

How it’s done:

Cast on 48 stitches using your 9mm needles

Rim of the hat – 1×1 rib stitch

Row 1: (K1, P1)

Rows 2-7: (K1, P1)

Body of the hat – switch to 10mm needles:

Rows 8-9: Knit all stitches

Row 10: (C2F, K4)

Rows 11-12: Knit all stitches

Row 13: (K4, C2B)

Three more rounds of cabling:

Rows 14-31: Repeat rows 8-13 three more times

Decrease for crown:

Row 32: (K2tog, K1) – 32 stitches

Row 33: knit to end

Row 34: – 16 stitches

Row 35: (K2tog) – 8 stitches

Cut your thread leaving approximately 10cm tail, and pull it through the remaining stitches. Tighten to close the top of the hat, and tie off.

You’re then ready to make your bobble. See my Rico Bobbles post for bobble instructions – also see image below for the dreamiest bobble yarn the world has ever seen!

No seaming to do (for circular knitting newbies like me, what a revelation!) Fold over the brim of your hat, and you’re the proud owner of a beautiful new knit!

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

This little mustard number was made as a going away gift for my lovely friend Georgi, who is about to set off on a 6-month secondment to South Africa. It’s summer there at the moment, but being prepared for autumn/winter is obviously very important.

So, this hat was kind of a big deal, because it was my first real foray into circular knitting. Having stuck solidly to flat-knit bobbles, I’d been putting this off – but after creating my Chunky flat-knit cable hat pattern, I knew that it was time.

An off-the-record tip for anyone who’s feeling a bit nervous about circular knitting – I actually knit the first couple of rows of this on straight needles, before swapping into the round. This means that you’ve got your tension right from the start, and you can seam up the tiny bit that isn’t joined at the end. Not exactly by the book, but it worked wonders for me!

I’ve decided to name my patterns based on some of my favourite authors – still an English Lit student at heart! This one’s the Morris Beanie, named after Heather Morris, writer of the amazing book The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Hope that you enjoy the pattern, and check out the book too if you haven’t already!

You will need:

• 8mm circular knitting needles
• 9mm circular knitting needles
• Cable needle
• 1 skein of super chunky yarn for colour A. I used Women’s Institute Soft and Chunky Yarn from Hobbycraft, which is a bit less heavy than my usual choices, but worked really well
• A second colour of super chunky yarn (I used the Rico yarn in a navy blue) if you want to do a colour B on the rim. You don’t need much of this, so could be an opportunity to use up leftovers!
• Yarn for your pom-pom – I am currently obsessed with this Sirdar Alpine Luxe Fur Effect Yarn – it makes the most gorgeous and fluffy pom-poms ever!
• Sharp scissors for making your pom-pom (sorry Rob, I used the kitchen scissors again!)
• Yarn needle for attaching your pom-pom

How it’s done:

Cast on 56 stitches using your 8mm needles in colour B (if using two colours – if not, just stick with the same one throughout)

Rim of the hat – 1×1 rib stitch

Row 1: (K1, P1)
Rows 2-14: Switch to colour A, (K1, P1)

Body of the hat – switch to 9mm needles:
Rows 15-19: (K4, P4)
Row 20: (C2F, P4)
Row 21: (K4, P4)

Two more rounds of cabling

Rows 22-35: Repeat rows 15-21 twice

Decrease for crown:

Row 36: (K2tog, K2tog, P4) – 42 stitches
Row 37: (K2, P2tog, P2tog) – 28 stitches
Row 38: (K2tog, P2) – 21 stitches
Row 39: (K1, P2tog) – 14 stitches
Row 40: (K2tog) – 7 stitches

Cut your thread leaving approximately 10cm tail, and pull it through the remaining stitches. Tighten to close the top of the hat, and tie off.

You’re then ready to make your bobble. See my Rico Bobbles post for bobble instructions – also see image below for the dreamiest bobble yarn the world has ever seen!

No seaming to do (for circular knitting newbies like me, what a revelation!) Fold over the brim of your hat, and you’re the proud owner of a beautiful new knit!

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

So, this is a pattern that I’m really excited to share, because it’s the most complicated one that I’ve created yet.

I went for a run after buying this gorgeous red wool (from Fielders in Wimbledon), and as I was going round I started trying to work out the calculations required to cable and successfully decrease a chunky bobble hat. After a lot of trial and error (and looking strange as I kept stopping to write down notes on my phone), I cracked it.

This bobble hat is knit flat – I wasn’t quite feeling brave enough to throw circular needles into the mix, although that’s next on my list. So if you’ve just learned to cable, this is a surprisingly easy way to put your skills into action.

You will need:

• 10mm knitting needles
• 10mm cable needle

• 1 skein of Rico Essentials Super Super Chunky or a similar super chunky yarn for colour A. For any fellow Londoners, I always buy the Rico (it’s one of my favourites) from the lovely Fielders in Wimbledon – it’s a lovely craft shop, and I always seem to find something I didn’t know I was looking for!
• A second colour of super chunky yarn (I used the Rico yarn in a navy blue) if you want to do a colour B on the rim. You don’t need much of this, so could be an opportunity to use up leftovers!

• Yarn needle for sewing up seams
• Sharp scissors for making your pom-pom

How it’s done:

Cast on 42 stitches in colour B (if using two colours – if not, just stick with the same one throughout)

Rim of the hat – 1×1 rib stitch

Row 1: (K1, P1)

Rows 2-14: Switch to colour A, (K1, P1)

Increase stitches for first round of cabling

Row 15: K1, M1, (P4, K1, M1, K2) 5 times, P4, K2

Row 16: P2 (K4; P4) until 6 before end, K4, P2

Row 17: K2 (P4, K4) until 6 before end, P4, K2

Row 18: P2 (K4; P4) until 6 before end, K4, P2

Row 19: K2 (P4, K4) until 6 before end, P4, K2

Row 20: P2 (C2F, P4) until 6 before end, C2F, P2

Two more rounds of cabling

Row 21: K2 (P4, K4) until 6 before end, P4, K2

Row 22: P2 (K4; P4) until 6 before end, K4, P2

Row 23: K2 (P4, K4) until 6 before end, P4, K2

Row 24: P2 (K4; P4) until 6 before end, K4, P2

Row 25: K2 (P4, K4) until 6 before end, P4, K2

Row 26: P2 (C2F, P4) until 6 before end, C2F, P2

Rows 27-32: Repeat rows 21-26

Decrease for crown:

Row 33: K2tog, (P4, K2tog, K2tog) until 4 stitches before end, P4, K2tog – 36 stitches

Row 34: P1, (K2tog, K2tog, P2) until 5 stitches before end, K2tog, K2tog, P1 – 24 stitches

Row 35: K1, (P2, K2tog) until 3 stitches before end, P2, K1 – 19 stitches

Row 36: P1, (K2tog, P1) until 3 stitches before end, K2tog, P1 – 13 stitches

Row 37: (K1, P1) – 13 stitches

Row 38: P1, (Sl1k) – 7 stitches

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

Then take your yarn needle, and sew the sides together using mattress stitch. See this link for a helpful tutorial.

You’re then ready to make your bobble. See my Rico Bobbles post for bobble instructions.

Fold over the rim of your hat, and you’re done! Ski style, complete!

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