Hats for Newborns
Because it feels like a new baby enters my circle of friends and family about every two minutes, it’s pretty hectic trying to welcome each one with a hand knit gift. And although I’m short on time and long on babies, I would hate to give new parents the impression that I whipped some yarn into something vaguely wearable and oh-by-the-way-congratulations-about-the-baby. In other words, I’m in serious need of a quick, but exquisite baby gift.
Nothing’s quicker than a hat, but how to convey that this is no ordinary hat? Easy, choose an extraordinary yarn! Purl Soho’s Line Weight is instantly special with its simple purity and understated beauty. A single ply, soft and cozy merino, it is as light as a feather and as soft as a kitten. Plus, the almost 500 yard skeins mean that I’m all set for the next round of babies! -Whitney
Update: New Yarn
May 21, 2021
We’ve renamed these adorable hats for the classic pieces they are! Our Classic Baby Hats are knit in our new yarn Santolina and are every bit as a precious as the babies we hope they warm! Click here to read more!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoHatsForNewborns, and #PurlSohoLineWeight. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 2 skeins of Purl Soho’s Line Weight, 100% merino. Each skein is 494 yards/ 100 grams.
- Color A: 1 skein; approximately 200 yards required. We used the color Storm Gray.
- Color B: 1 skein; approximately 171 yards required. We used the color Oyster Gray.
- A US 2 (3 mm), 12-inch circular needle.
- A set of US 2Â double pointed needles.
- A Pom Pom Maker (for the Roll Brim Hat).
NOTE: This is enough yarn for ten hats!
GAUGE
8 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch
SIZE
Finished Circumference: 13½ inches
Patterns
Garter Brim Hat
With Color A, cast on 108 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
Place a marker and join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches.
Round 1: Purl.
Round 2: Knit.
Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 three more times.
Next Round: Purl.
Change to Color B and knit every round until the piece measures 4 inches from the cast on edge.
The Crown
Round 1: *K7, Knit Two Together (k2tog), repeat from * to end of round. (96 stitches)
Round 2: Knit.
Round 3: *K6, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (84 stitches)
Round 4: Knit.
Round 5: *K5, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (72 stitches)
Round 6: Knit.
Round 7: *K4, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (60 stitches)
Round 8: Knit.
Changing to double pointed needles…
Round 9: *K3, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (48 stitches)
Round 10: Knit.
Round 11: *K2, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (36 stitches)
Round 12: Knit.
Round 13: *K1, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (24 stitches)
Round 14: *K2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (12 stitches)
Round 15: Repeat Round 14. (6 stitches)
With Color A…
Round 16: Repeat Round 14. (3 stitches)
Arrange the remaining 3 stitches onto one needle.
Knit a 2 inch I-cord. (For help, visit our I-Cord Tutorial here.)
Bind off, cut the yarn, and pull the tail through the remaining stitch.
To form the top loop, bring the tail to the inside of the hat, pulling the very tip of the I-cord along with it. As you weave in the tail, sew the I-cord tip to the inside of the hat.
Weave in the rest of the ends and gently block the hat.
Roll Brim Hat
With Color A, cast on 108 stitches.
Place a marker and join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches.
Knit every round until the piece measures 4 3/8 inches from the unrolled cast on edge (4 inches from it rolled).
Work the Crown section of the Garter Brim Hat (above) through Round 15. (6 stitches)
Cut the yarn, and sew it through the remaining 6 stitches.
With Color B, use a Pom Pom Maker to make a pom pom. I used the smallest Susan Bates template and made the pom pom quite sparse so it wouldn’t be too heavy on the hat.
Bring each tail of the pom pom to the inside of the hat through a different hole. Tie a knot with the tails and weave them in.
Weave in the rest of the ends and gently block.
Striped Hat
With Color A, cast on 108 stitches.
Place a marker and join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches.
Round 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Round 1 six more times.
**With Color B, knit 2 rounds.
With Color A, knit 2 rounds.
Repeat from ** until piece measures 4 inches from the cast on edge, ending with the first round of either color. (For help with knitting stripes, check out the Knitting Stripes in the Round tutorial right here.)
Maintaining the stripe pattern, work the Crown section of the Garter Brim Hat (above) through Round 15. (6 stitches)
Cut the yarn, and sew it through the remaining 6 stitches.
Weave in the ends and gently block.
Hi- could I use the 2ply jade sapphire cashmere for this project? Thanks!!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for the question! You certainly can and it would make such a lovely hat! Best of luck!
-Adam
Hi,
These hats look lovely. I have some left over lovely soft alpaca wool that I’ve used with US size 6 needles before. Would it work to follow the pattern but with this chunkier wool & larger needle size? Will it just turn out a bit bigger?! (which would be fine the baby is 3 months old)… Sorry for my ignorance here …. 😉 Many thanks, L
Hi Layla,
Thanks for writing us. If you followed the pattern with your yarn, you’d get more of an adult size hat. I suggest you take 20-30 stitches off the cast on based on your stitch gauge. If you are at six stitches per inch, take off 20 and at five stitches per inch you should take off 30. Your decreases will differ from the pattern, but as long as you divide them up equally you should be fine! Best of luck and happy knitting!
-Adam
Just wanting to know if this is for a 4 ply pattern?
Thanks.
Hi Kaye,
Thanks for writing in! Our Line Weight is a light fingering weight with a gauge of 7 – 8.5 stitches per inches. On the UK scale, this would make it a 2 or 3 ply yarn. You may be able to use a 4 ply but I would certainly knit a gauge swatch to be sure that you can get the 8 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch required for these lovely little hats!
Best,
Cassy
Hi!
Wondering what type of cast on you used for the garter edge on the striped hat. I’ve tried two types and they don’t resemble your version. Thanks!
Lee
Hi Lee,
Thanks for writing in! Unless otherwise notes, we use the Long Tail Cast On for most of our projects! We think that it makes a tidy and elastic cast on!
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Eager to try these–have a new great-nephew!
Eager to try a few of these patterns. Have a new great-nephew!
I love the neutral color combination you show here – Oyster Gray and Storm Gray. But you don’t seem to have the Storm Gray any more. What would your recommend instead?
Thanks!
Laraine
Hi Laraine,
Thanks for writing in! I think that good replacement for Storm Gray would be Fieldstone Gray!
Best,
Cassy
Hello,
I’m interested in making the Garter Brim Hat, but I was wondering if you could help me size it down for a preemie?
Thank you,
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for writing in! What a lovely project! I did a touch of research and I see that preemie heads can vary pretty dramatically in size from as small as 5 inches up to 11-13 inches. Unfortunately we don’t have the resources to customize patterns, but this pattern is quite easy to manipulate. I can suggest that you can subtract multiples of 9 stitches to get a smaller circumference hat. I am not sure what the best measurements for a preemie hat would be but I do know that there is a lot of information out there about preemie hats and projects that could be helpful for sizing!
Best of luck to you!
Cassy
I would like to make this pattern in a 6-9month
Do you have a pattern
Thanks
Hello Therese,
Thank you for reaching out! No, we have not written this pattern for other sizes, but you could measure the recipient’s head and subtract an inch or two from that measurement, giving you x. Multiply x by your gauge (in this pattern, the gauge is 8), giving you y. Round y up or down to the nearest multiple of 9 and cast on that number.
For bigger size hats, be sure to also knit the body of hat longer before you start the crown.
I hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions!
-Marilla
Does anyone have any experience or advice about sizing this down for a premature baby? I’ve been asked to knit some hats for a baby in the NICU.
Thanks!
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for writing in, and what a lovely gift to knit! These hats work with any multiple of 9 stitches, so for a preemie, you could start with 82 or 90 stitches and work to one inch or a half inch less before beginning the crown shaping.
Best of luck and happy knitting!
Julianna
Hi there, I have attempted to start this project an embarrassing amount of times! My biggest problem is issues with the yarn falling off the needles constantly, dropping stitches, etc. I find the yarn really hard to pick up with the Turbos I’m using, which is a problem I’ve not ever had with the bamboo needles. I’ve done an adult size hat with sport weight yarn and didn’t have this issue, so I’m stumped… do you have any suggestions for troubleshooting?
Hello Amelia,
This sounds incredibly frustrating- we have all been there! Are you knitting with circular knitting needles or dpns? If you are using circular needles what cord length are you using? Bamboo needles are less slippery than metal needles so this could also be a factor. I will also say that with such small yarn the first few rows are always the most difficult to control.
I hope this helpful and I hope I can help further! Let us know how you progress.
Warmly,
Marilla
Is it possible to use your posy yarn for this project? I would like a yarn that is machine washable.
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Jan
Thanks for writing in! Posy would be a great substitute for this project! I would still recommend doing a gauge swatch just to make sure, but I think you will be fine!
Happy knitting
Jessica
I’m having a hard time finding a size 2 circular needle in 12″. Any suggestions? The link in the pattern is Page Not Found and the shortest length you have online is 16″
Thanks!!
Hi Karen,
Unfortunately, it looks like we don’t carry size 2 needles in 12″ anymore but I have a couple of suggestions for you. You could work with two circular needles to accommodate the smaller circumference. I would also recommend taking a look at our Addi FlexFlips. With these needles, you will divide the stitches evenly between two needles and knit with the third, similar to how you would use DPNs.
I hope this helps.
Happy knitting,
Oscar
Could you recommend a needle size for this hat if using Good Wool yarn?
Hi Jen,
Thanks for writing in! This hat was written for a fingering weight yarn, so I’m afraid that Good Wool isn’t the best choice for it. The gauge is quite small (8 stitches per inch), so if knit up in Good Wool, the resulting knit fabric will be very, very dense. If you’re still interested in aiming for a small gauge, then I’d recommend knitting up a gauge swatch with Good Wool to determine which needle size you should use! Alternatively, you could consider knitting one of our hat patterns designed for sportweight yarn instead.
All the best,
Lili