There are so many great hat knitting patterns out there, but as I start thinking about knitting for winter (which is the only time I really wear hats) I want my hats to be as colorful as possible. And of course there are new colorwork hat knitting patterns being released all the time, but here are some that have caught my eye. 

You couldn’t ask for more color than is found in the Ridged Stripe Hat knitting pattern from Yarnspirations. This one uses a multicolored yarn to make the stripes easy, and slipped stitches to make those elongated stitches that move the colors around. It also has a foldover ribbed brim for plenty of warmth, and comes in one size to fit an adult. It’s a free pattern. 

Speaking of slipped stitches, they’re the key to mosaic knitting, which is how the Fold in the Cheese hat is done (shoutout to the Schitt’s Creek fans!). This one is worked in two colors of a DK or light worsted weight yarn, and using a multicolored yarn makes it look more interesting without any more work. It comes in three sizes and you can knit it as a beanie or slouchy if you prefer. You can find this pattern from Mary Annarella on Ravelry.

The color is subtle on Carrie McKie’s Surprise Hat (a free download from Ravelry) but it wouldn’t have to be. I wanted to include this one because I like the idea of it, having a colorwork pattern that looks good on either side so you can reverse the hat when you want to change up the look. This one also uses slipped stitches, and it’s fun to see how you can get different looks with such a simple technique.

The simplest way to add color to a project, apart from stripes, is by adding little stitches of color. A single knit stitch in a contrasting color looks like a heart, which is where the Loving Hat gets its name. This is super simple stranded colorwork done in bulky yarn, and the free pattern from Garter Stitch Witch includes sizing for babies through adults. 

If you’re ready for more detailed Fair Isle knitting, check out A Foray into Fair Isle from Little Blue Pedal Car on Etsy. This colorful hat knitting pattern would be a great stash buster because you can change colors with every band of colorwork. It uses worsted weight yarn and looks adult sized. 

Take stranded knitting in a totally different direction with the Bad Medicine Beanie from A Lil Loopy. This bold hat features large skulls all around the hat that are worked in a multicolored, super bulky yarn. The hat has one adult size and looks like it would be a lot of fun to knit. 

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I know I have said this before, but in the last few years I’ve really become a fan of vests. They take less time to knit than a sweater, and you can wear them for more of the year, as a layer over long sleeves, short sleeves, or even over a sweater. 

Trollabackarna by Sanne Bjerregaard is one vest knitting pattern that caught my eye recently. 

This colorful, boxy vest calls for four colors of yarn, but it would be easy to use scraps for the colorwork and just change colors whenever you need to. 

According to the pattern, Trollabackarna (which is in Sweden) is a place of peace:

Deep in the northeast of Skåne, the hills lie where legends and shadows exist side by side. The name is no coincidence — here, boulders stand like petrified giants, and the winding paths weave between roots and silent trees, as though they are guiding you — if you dare to follow.

The pattern is worked from the bottom up, starting with a twisted rib hem. The body is all two color stranded knitting, with the contrasting color worked in stripes (again, you can use one color or many here) in the round up to the armholes. The tops of the vest are worked flat and joined with a three-needle bind off. 

The armholes and neckline are worked in twisted rib and folded over and sewn down to the inside after knitting. 

The colorwork is charted, but this is so big and graphic it should be pretty easy for you even if you’re new to colorwork knitting or reading charts. 

The pattern is available in seven sizes, meant to fit a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 53.5 inches/82-136 cm. It looks like each size has 3-4 inches/7.5-10 cm of positive ease. It calls for worsted weight yarn and the pattern is available for free in English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian and Swedish from Filcolana.

[Photo: Filcolana]

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Easy Knit Vests are Officially My Favorite [Knitting]

When I knit socks (which sadly I have not done in a while; need to get a new pair on the needles soon!) I generally stick to pretty simple designs and colorwork that isn’t all that detailed. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love a fancy sock, I’m also just pretty lazy and I figure a project worked on size 0 or 1 US needles is going to take a long time even without the added work of intricate colorwork, so why make it more complicated?

But there are definitely socks out there I’d be willing to make an exception for, and I think Tangled Bliss by Annette Schleicher may just be one of them. 

If you can’t tell from looking, this is decidedly an advanced knitting pattern. There’s brioche for the cuffs, complex looking colorwork done with the ladderback jacquard technique, multiple charts, and colors changing everywhere. 

There are links to tutorials for all the special skills in the pattern, but still it would help to have a handle on these concepts before you get started. 

The pattern uses three colors of light fingering weight yarn at a whopping 31 stitches per 4 inches/10 cm (that’s 7.75 stitches per inch/2.5 cm). 

Would you believe me if I told you that this pattern was designed for a speed knitting contest? Speed would be the last thing on my mind. 

But again, I think all the work for these fancy socks would be worth it. I love hoe the colorwork looks like an old tile floor, and think of the bragging rights when you tell people you made them yourself. (Though of course you did; have you ever seen store-bought socks that look anything like this?)

Best of all, this pattern is available for free on Ravelry, so there’s no reason not to give it a try if you’ve got the skills. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Annette Schleicher]

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