Free Knitted Fisherman’s Rib Slouchy Hat Pattern

Not every knitted item turns out the way you plan.

This hat, for example, is not at all what I was expecting.

My niece, Shelby, wanted a matching hat set for her and her baby, Bailey, and so I set to work learning fisherman’s rib and began knitting away!

I’d never worked fisherman’s rib but thought, hey, how hard can it be? I’ll just whip out my own pattern. Ha! Probably not a great idea when you’re not familiar with a stitch.

I kept thinking, ‘Is this going to be too big? It should fit. It seems kinda big. It’s definitely pretty big. No. It will fit.’

Yes, that’s me, attempting to model it:

Turns out my intended beanie ended up being a slouch. A really slouchy slouch.

Not to mention I attached a 10-lb pom pom which weighs it down even further. Ha ha! It felt that heavy anyway. It actually weighed a whopping 1.9 oz. Holy mother of pearl. Usually my pom poms are too sparse and so I overcompensated and made this mega thick jumbo one.

Golly. You’d think after all these years knitting I would know better. 😉

I’ve opted not to post this as an official pattern on the site (you can see those patterns here if you like, many of them free), but since so many of you asked for the pattern, I’ll tell you what I did.

PATTERN:

2 skeins Cerulean Sky Superwash Merino Silk Pearlescent Worsted (I used 4.5 oz total, just for the hat, and the pom pom weighed 1.9 oz)

If it’s not listed when you click over, it’s out of stock. My colors come and go and I list new shades nearly daily, so any of my worsted weight yarns here would work, but try to choose something with wool or other stretchy fiber in it. Pure silk would be reallllly loose and probably not a great fit for this pattern.

NEEDLE SIZE: US 10.5 (6.5mm)

GAUGE: 3 sts to the inch in stockinette

NOTES: Hold the yarn DOUBLE throughout the project. (Two strands held together at all times, to make a thicker yarn)

I’ll give the adult size pattern as well as a baby size since I made one of these for her wee little bebe and it turned out to fit pretty great. 🙂

Let’s Begin!

Cast on 60 sts for an average adult size head (46 sts for a 1 year old baby) or any multiple of 4.

Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist your sts and place a marker so you know where your round begins.

Work K1, P1 ribbing for one inch. ( I worked 5 rounds)

Round 1: *K1below, p1. Repeat from * around.

Round 2: *K1, P1below. Repeat from * around.

Repeat those two rounds until your hat is 8 inches from cast on edge ( 6 inches for the baby hat).

Not sure how to knit 1 below or purl 1 below? Just do a quick google search as there are lots of helpful tutorials out there! (Same for making a pom pom.)

Decrease for the Crown:

Round 1 of Crown: *K2tog, K1below, P1. Repeat from * around.

Round 2: *K2, P1below. Repeat from * around.

Round 3: *K1, K1below, P1. Repeat from * around.

Round 4: *K2, P1 below. Repeat from * around.

Round 5-6: Repeat rounds 3-4

Round 7: *K2tog, P1. Repeat from * around.

Round 8: *K1, P1. Repeat from * around.

Round 9: *K2tog. Repeat from * around.

Finishing:

Cut your tail and weave it around twice through the remaining live stitches and then either leave it long to attach your pom pom or weave into the sts on the inside of the hat.

Enjoy!

I hope you like the pattern!

Now, given the fact that it does turn out so big, you can make it smaller by decreasing the number of stitches after working your initial k1, p1 ribbing. Just play around and see what you can get. I’d love to see your version!

And here’s Miss Bailey looking all fly in her wee little hat. I attached ties on the side so it would stay on:

Oh my gosh. The cuteness it too much to handle!

And the fun thing is, at the same time, I was secretly making this baby quilt for her:

Professional quilters, avert your eyes! I am by no means a professional! I made quilts back when I was a teenager, but it’s been awhile.

I literally just scoured Pinterest and… started. Bit by bit. It’s full of mistakes but I love it and she liked it!

Awwwwwww!!!! Seriously. I can’t get over her cuteness.

This was my first time free-motion quilting and I’m convinced it’s one of the most fun things everrrr! Definitely get some grippy garden gloves for that.

My biggest takeaway from this project: Ruffler Foot. GET ONE! It’s a miracle. It made all that ruffle in no time!!

I don’t have a pattern as I just sort of made it up as I went. My favorite way to craft. 🙂

I made a label with a permanent fabric marker (tracing text I had printed) onto a piece of fabric I backed with fusible web. Amazing stuff!  Then I ironed it on and hand-tacked it down.

Anyhoo!

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the hat and quilt and if you’ve ever made anything that didn’t quite turn out as expected.

*My blog theme is soooo outdated that my comments aren’t showing up right now, but you can still leave them, we are still reading them on our end and are planning a big blog overhaul/update soon and they will all show back up then. Whew! So please comment away! That way I don’t feel like I’m blabbering into the abyss. 🙂

Thank you so much for reading!! Have a fantastical day, because today is all we have. We can choose to be happy or to be a mully grub. And who wants to be a mully grub? Not me!

And remember, I appreciate YOU!!

XOXOXO

Chandi