Free Knitting Pattern…Rock Candy Hat

Rock Candy is a funky, adorable little hat that knits up quickly. It is perfect for your little ones who won’t keep a hat on.  Customize hat with multitude of colors, or knit in a favorite solid color.

Rock Candy Hat

By Jennifer Dickerson

Finished Sizes:

  • Preemie (12 inch circumference, 5.5” height) 
  • Newborn (14 inch circumference, 6” height) 
  • Baby (16 inch circumference, 7” height) 
  • Toddler (18 inch circumference, 8” height) 
  • Child (20 inch circumference, 8.5” height) 

Note: Heads come in lots of different sizes, please measure child’s head first for best fit.

Gauge:

  • 24 stitches and 17 rows = 4 inches

Materials:

  • Any worsted weight yarn in 3 of your favorite colors 
  • 1 US 8 16” Circular Needles 
  • 1 set US 8 DPNs 
  • Tapestry Needle 
  • Stitch Markers 

Abbreviations:

  • CO: Cast on
  • K2tog: Knit two stitches together
  • P2tog: Purl two stitches together
  • St st: Stockinette Stitch
  • PM: Place marker
  • RS: Right side
  • WS: Wrong side

Hat:

Preemie (Newborn, Baby, Toddler, Child)
CO 48 (56, 64, 72, 80) sts using color A, PM.
Join in the round, being careful not to twist.
Begin working in st st (knit all rounds) in striped color pattern as follows:

  • 4 rounds color A
  • 2 rounds color B
  • 4 rounds color C

Repeat until hat is roughly 5.5 (6, 7, 8, 8.5) inches from CO edge.

Decrease Crown:


(Note: Change to double pointed needles when needed)
At next round begin decrease:
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: K2tog across
Round 3: Knit
Round 4: K2tog across
Round 5: Knit

Using tapestry needle, break yarn leaving a long tail. Thread through remaining stitches and pull tightly. Weave in ends. (Hat will probably begin curling because of stockinette edge, but earflaps will help straighten it out)

Earflaps:

Using color A, fold hat in half to determine placement (I placed a stitch marker on either side to mark the spot), pick up and knit 14 sts and work in st st for 4 rows, ending on WS row.

Earflap decrease: 


Row 1: k2tog, k10, k2tog
Row 2: p2tog, p8, p2tog
Row 3: k2tog, k6, k2tog
Row 4: p2tog, p4, p2tog
Row 5: k2tog, k2, k2tog
Row 6: p2tog, p2tog (two sts remain on needle)

Ties:

With remaining 2 stitches, work i-cord for 12” inches (this creates enough length for a bow to be tied comfortably under chin). BO 2 sts and repeat again for the other ear flap. Weave in any remaining ends.

Pom Pom:

Add pom pom if desired and fasten to top of hat.

© Jennifer Dickerson 2013

Please note: Patterns are for personal and charity use only. In addition, if you enjoy the pattern, please link to it, but do not copy the pattern to your own website or blog (including other languages). Thank you!

Related Posts

11 thoughts on “Free Knitting Pattern…Rock Candy Hat

    1. Oh, thank you so much for your kind words! It's folks like you that make me thrilled to share them! 🙂

  1. Great pattern! It's my first time using circular needles or dpn. I'm getting ready to start on the crown. How will I know when I need to start with the dpns? Thanks!!

    1. You'll know when things get start getting too tight to continue. I usually like to switch before that point though, so that the stitches don't get stretched. 🙂

  2. Hi there – I am having trouble with the gauge. My worsted weight yarn – Cascade 220. – is 5 stitches per inch and your gauge says 6 per inch. That seems more like sport than worsted. If I divide the toddler size CO number by 6, I get 12 inches. Does that mean the hat will stretch to fit? Should I go ahead and usr my worsted but adjust to CO 60? Any advice most appreciated!

  3. I've made this hat about 5 times last year & really like it. Thanks for sharing! I wish I had a picture of a baby with one I made. I do have one picture of one I took before giving as a gift.

  4. I am having a difficult time trying to calculate the positioning of the earflaps. I am making the one for a newborn (56 stitches), so by your sizing that would mean 14 stitches in the back and 14 more in the front and then the other two sets of 14 would be for the ear flaps, but people don't have their ears exactly on the sides of their heads, so should I adjust and perhaps put 10 stitches across the back and 18 across the front??

  5. Is there any way you could do a video on the earflaps. I have never picked up stitches and not sure how to begin.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *