Free Easy DK Ribbed Hat Pattern Knit in the Round (7 Sizes)

What You Need

• 4mm (us size 6) 16 inch (40 cm) circular knitting needle.
  You can also use a long circular (40 inch/100cm+) to knit the hat with magic loop or a set of DPNs.
  
• DK / 8 ply / light weight yarn: 1 small 50g ball for baby sizes or 2 balls for a child or adult size hat.
  • For the mint newborn hat with no turn up (size 1, 5 inches long), I used 50m / 15g approx of Sirdar Snuggly DK baby yarn.
  • For the pale purple child hat (size 5, 9.5 inches long turned down), I used 140m / 63g approx of Drops Daisy DK merino wool in shade 7 sweet orchid.
  • For my hot pink adult hat (size 6, 10.5 inches long turned down) I used 175m / 80g approx of Drops Daisy DK in shade 22 Magenta.
    
• Tapestry needle for closing the top of the hat & weaving in ends.
  
• If using a 16 inch/40cm circular, knitting the final rounds of the hat is easier with one of the following:
  • Option 1: 1 short double pointed needle or straight cable needle, any size up to 4mm thick.
  • Option 2: 4mm long circular needle (at least 32 inches or 80 cm) (for magic loop)
  • Option 3: A set of 4mm double pointed needles.

Sizing

• Suggested gauge: 27 stitches and 28 rounds to 4 inches (10 cm) in unstretched rib stitch.
  But exact stitch gauge is not important as the hat is stretchy & the vertical rounds gauge does not matter. The hat is your swatch, there’s no need for test squares!
• The pattern includes 2 options: (A) a shorter fitted hat with no turn up and (B) a longer cuffed hat with a turn up (or extra slouchy when turned down).
• The hat height is fully adjustable. Just knit more or fewer rounds of rib depending on your head height, how deep a brim or how much slouch you want

Abbreviations

• Rx – round number x
• kx – knit next x stitches
• px – purl next x stitches
• ssk – slip slip knit decrease method (SSK video tutorial):
  1. Slip the 1st stitch to the right tip as if you were going to knit it,
  2. Slip the 2nd stitch to the right tip as if you were going to purl it,
  3. Insert your left tip from left to right into both stitches on the right tip and knit them through the back loop.
• () or [] x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times – repeat the instructions inside () or [] 9-16 times depending on the size you’re making (9 times for a newborn, 13 times for child, 16 times for XL etc)
• [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] stitches – the number of stitches left after that round for each size

DK Ribbed Hat Knitting Pattern for Circular Needle / DPNs

Cast On

Cast on [72 newborn, 80 3-6 mths, 88 6-12 mths, 96 toddler, 104 child, 112 adult, 120 XL] stitches.
I used the long tail cast on (tutorial here), which works well for knitting in the round.

Knit Rib Stitch until Desired Length

Join to knit in the round. Knit 1 stitch, purl 1 stitch and repeat this pattern until the end of the round to do 1×1 rib stitch. See how in my knitting in the round for beginners video.

Now just keep knitting rounds of k1,p1 rib stitch until your hat is about 1.75 inches shorter than your desired hat height.

Ideally, try it on after knitting 2-3 inches (or else measure against a hat that fits), to check the hat circumference is a comfy fit. If you’re using a short circular, you will need to move some stitches temporarily to a spare needle before you try on, to avoid losing stitches off the tips of your circular when your knitting expands on your head.

Here are suggested rib amounts in inches for each size, but feel free to adjust to suit:

If you knit the suggested rib height, your finished hat height will match the pattern sizing table at the top.

Crown Decreases

From now on you work in pairs of rounds:
In round 1, you do a SSK every so often instead of rib stitch, to decrease by (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) stitches depending on the size you’re making.
In round 2, there’s no decreases, but sometimes you will have 2 knit stitches in a row instead of 1×1 rib. Just go with it and knit all the knit stitches & purl all the purls. Don’t overthink it!

Tip: Mark the start of the round with a stitch marker if you haven’t already, so you don’t get confused about where to decrease.

1st Decreases:
R1: [SSK, (K1,P1) x 3] x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times to decrease (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) stitches evenly around
[63, 70, 77, 84, 91, 98, 112 stitches]
R2: [K1, (K1,P1) x 3] x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times

Explanation: Start off working in blocks of 8 stitches. Do a SSK with the 1st 2 stitches (to decrease a stitch) and then keep the rib stitch pattern for the other 6 as usual.
Then knit 1 round even. Instead of all 1×1 rib, you will now have 2 knit stitches in a row wherever you did the SSKs. Just stay in this new pattern: knit all the knit stitches & purl all the purls.

2nd Decreases: SSK every time you have 2 knit stitches in a row
R3: (SSK, P1,K1,P1,K1,P1) x(9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times [54, 60, 66, 72, 78, 84, 96 stitches]
R4: K1, P1 rib stitch

Explanation: You’re now working in blocks of 7 stitches. Whenever you come to 2 knit stitches in a row, you do a SSK with them. Otherwise it’s just rib stitch as usual (purl the purls & knit the knit stitches).
You’re back in standard 1×1 rib stitch after this decrease round, so just do an even round of rib.

3rd Decreases:
R5: [SSK, (K1,P1) x 2] x(9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times (work in blocks of 6) [45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80 stitches]
R6: [K1, (K1,P1) x 2] x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times (just knit the knit stitches & purl the purls)

Note: Knitting in the round on a short circular gets tricky once you only have around 35 stitches left. So when knitting starts feeling awkward, watch my beginner hat video tutorial from the 27 minutes timestamp or read about 4 ways to do this before doing the rest of the decreases:

4th Decreases: SSK every time you have 2 knit stitches in a row
R7: (SSK, P1,K1,P1) x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times (work in blocks of 5) [36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 64 stitches]
R8: K1, P1 rib stitch

5th Decreases:
R9: (SSK, K1,P1) x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times (work in blocks of 4) [27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 48 stitches]
R10: (K2,P1) repeat all the way around

6th Decreases:
R11: (SSK, P1) x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times (work in blocks of 3) [18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 32 stitches]
R12: K1, P1 rib stitch

Final Round:
R13: SSK x (9,10,11,12,13,14,16) times [9,10,11,12,13,14,16 stitches left]

Finish Hat

See my hat finishing tutorial (including 5 min video) here →
Leaving a long tail, cut the yarn. Thread it through the remaining stitches 2-3 times & gather to close the top of the hat.

Before weaving in the end, check whether you prefer the look of your ribbing on the outside or the inside of the hat. Some knitters find their ribbing in the round looks neater on the wrong side.

The hat is reversible, but I’d suggest weaving in the top end down the back of the hat on the side you pick to be the inside for a neater finish.

Finally weave in the cast on tail into the bottom of your hat. I prefer to work from the right side for that.

Washing Tips

Wash your hat following the instructions on your yarn ball band. If in doubt, hand wash it in a tub of cool water, adding some wool wash if you have it. I love Soak wool wash – a bottle lasts me years!

If machine washing, make sure you use the wool or delicates cycle at a low temperature with a low spin speed. This will ensure your hat doesn’t felt or stiffen if using non superwash wool or stretch or get distorted with other yarn types.

The rib stitch and length of the hat csn make it go long and skinny when wet. So I focus on making it wider and a bit shorter and lay it flat on a raised baking cooling rack to air dry.

This helps it keep its original shape, but some yarns magically spring back once dry anyway if you’re lucky!

Knit Matching Mitts

Make mitts to match your hat with my free ribbed mitts knitting pattern, a quick & easy one skein project perfect for practising magic loop knitting. Enjoy!