This is a fun and easy beginner’s pattern. All you need to know to complete this pattern is how to knit and purl. A nice thing about this pattern is that it introduces 3 new skills to knitters who only know how to knit and purl -- those skills are the kitchener stitch (to make an invisible seam at the top of the hat), how to make an i-cord (for optional chin strap), and how to do a duplicate stitch (for the owl’s face) -- and this pattern links to excellent tutorials to help show exactly how to do these techniques. This is a quick and easy knit, which makes a great baby gift!

Difficulty

Easy. This would make a good third or fourth project for the beginning knitter who wants to add to their skills.

Size:

Baby/Toddler. I knit this hat for my one-year old son. You can adjust the size upwards or downwards by adding or reducing the number of stitches cast-on, as long as you add or reduce in increments of 4.

Materials Needed:

• 1 skein Blue Sky Alpacas Techno Yarn in the color “Suede” for the body of the hat.
• A few yards of similar weight yarn in white for the pom poms and eyes and a few yards of similar weight yarn in yellow for the beak. You can use Blue Sky Alpacas Techno Yarn in the colors “Fame” (i.e. white) and “Tonic” (i.e. yellow). Note that many of these Blue Sky Alpacas Techno Yarn colors have been discontinued, however, they are still readily available online (at steep discounts). Alternatively, a similar weight yarn should work just fine for this pattern.
• 2 black buttons sized to preference for the eyes. Those pictured measure 7/8 of an inch.
• US #10 circular needles.
• US #10 double-pointed needles (for making the i-cord chin straps, which are optional)
• A tapestry needle to duplicate stitch the eyes and beak.
• A crochet hook (approximately size 10/J (a size or two larger may make this easier) for attaching the pompoms.