2 Stash-Busting Knitted Hat Patterns -31 Days of Handmade Gifts

With basic skills and these easy free knitted hat patterns, you can use up your leftover skeins of yarn and create one-of-a-kind knitted hats. Head over to the handmade gifts page for more great gift ideas!

Last year I was able to use up most of my leftover yarn (aka, my stash) by knitting hats for all the kids in  my family – nieces, nephews, and my kids for Christmas gifts. Can I tell you how much I loved this? Using up what I had (no waste) and giving a gift they liked (and hopefully use) that was handmade, for ZERO dollars? *Insert all the heart eyes here*

Even though I have knitted sweaters, throws, and many scarves, among other things, I have only knitted one hat in my life before this – and it didn’t turn out all that great. So believe me when I tell you the two patterns that I used are e.a.s.y. with basic stitches and shaping. Once I got it down, I could finish a hat in just a few hours of tv watching so these went pretty quickly, too.

This is a beginner project for sure- though maybe after you’re completed the first scarf everyone seems to practice with and you’ve got your tension even. I used the ribbed pattern (shown center in the photo above) for just two hats, since the other basic hat pattern seemed to produce a nicer hat that worked well with all the different yarns I had (I did stick with wool and wool blends, though).

2 Free Knitted Hat Patterns:

Click here for the free stretchy ribbed hat pattern on Ravelry.

Click here for the free Soft Merino Hats for Everyone pattern from Purl Soho.

I’m sharing 31 days of handmade gifts for the holidays and beyond. Click here to see all the projects in this series. Don’t miss a post! Sign up to get them delivered to your inbox by clicking here.