BEGINNER PROJECT Toboggan Hat

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Toboggan

There are a lot of new knitters picking up sticks for the first time, so I thought a nice little pattern to get you beyond scarves might serve you well. If you’re already an experience knitter you might want to keep this project in mind for people you end up teaching down the line!

Toboggan is a basic hat knit flat and seamed up the back. It only uses the knit stitch, which I think makes it great for kids as well as adults.

Size

  • Kids L / Adult XS (Adult S/M, Adult L/XL)
  • Circumference (unstretched): 17½ (20½, 23¼)“

Yarn Options

You’ll only need about 100g of yarn for this project, so one ball of any of the following yarns will work:

Needles

Beginners generally do best with straight needles (circular needles tend to get confusing early on). Because you are going to be putting on a bunch of stitches a longer 13″ or 14″ needle is a good idea. (9″/10″ straight needles are my favourite to start people off with, especially for scarves, but for a hat you’re really going to have to jam the stitch on there and it gets uncomfortable).

If you knit tight go up a size to a 6.5mm/US10.5 and if you knit loose consider going down a size to a 5.5mm/US9 needle. (I prefer to knit my hats a little bit tighter on purpose to block out the wind, so I go down).

In general, beginners seem to learn fastest with wood needles: they’re light, easy to use, and they aren’t too slippery (slippery is NOT good for beginners).

Notions

Either will do, they’re basically the same thing, except one is straight and the other has a bent tip.

Accessories

What’s a craft hobby without accessories?! But seriously, a good Pom-Pom *makes* a hat. You can either make your own pompom or buy a real or synthetic fur pompom. Personally, i swear by the Clover brand pom-pom makers (I’ve made A LOT of pom-poms with them). These days, I’m partial to a raccoon fur pom-pom – they’re light and fluffy and the way they bob around makes me happy.

Pattern

I came across Toboggan a few years ago, it was a freebie from Classic Elite Yarns, which unfortunately no longer exists. I’ve found a link for you through the Internet Archive, but be sure to download it and save it in your preferred cloud drive (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc) – don’t take your patterns for granted, sometimes the internet lingers and other times things disappear.

The pattern is written in two ways; knitted in the round and knitted flat. Be sure to use the version that suits your skillset. Working in the round will require 16″ circular needles and double pointed needles, but you won’t need to seam it. Working flat uses one pair of straight needles, and it has to be seamed to finish it up.

DOWNLOAD THE PATTERN HERE

Skills & Resources

There are lots of good resources on the web for knitters, it’s really an embarrassment of riches. A few reliable favourites are KnittingHelp.com, VeryPink.com, and Interweave has a great Knitting Glossary. If you want to take a great online class check out Craftsy.

8 thoughts on “BEGINNER PROJECT Toboggan Hat”

  3. Rita

    I’ve tried to click on the picture and the words “Tobaggan” but am directed to a site that is not for the pattern.

    Is it possible to get it some other way?

  8. Rita

    Thank you! Was able to access the pattern now by clicking on a picture.
    Looking forward to making a few of these:)

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