Knit Bear Hat with Pom-Pom Ears
This little number was inspired by the adorable 2020 New Year’s photo featuring Prince Harry and little Baby Archie. Sweet little Archie is keeping his head warm and looking adorable in a knit cap featuring two pom-pom teddy bear ears. I have a niece that is just a little older than Archie and I couldn’t resist making a similar cute hat for her!
Materials:
Caron Simply Soft Yarn in White; feel free to use any color or another type of yarn of similar weight
Size 6 circular knitting needles with cable long enough to use the magic loop knitting method. If you are not familiar with magic loop knitting, it’s really easy and you can view a great tutorial here.
Gauge = 6 sts per inch
Cardboard for creating your pom-pom
Sharp scissors
Pen or pencil
Yarn needle
Finished size:
The pattern below measures 7.5” across when laid flat, and should fit a 1-2 year old child. You can add/subtract your number of cast on stitches in increments of 8 to vary the size as needed.
Hat Pattern:
Cast on 88 stitches and distribute stitches evenly across your needles in order to knit using the magic loop method.
K2P2 ribbing for 2.5 inches from cast on edge (~16 rows)
Row 17: *K9, K2tog* repeat until end of round (80 sts remaining)
Continue in st st until hat measures ~5 inches from cast on edge. (~20 rows)
Row 37: *K8, K2tog* repeat until end of round (72 sts remaining)
Row 38-42: Knit
Row 43: *K7, K2tog* repeat until end of round (64 sts remaining)
Row 44-46: Knit
Row 47: *K6, K2tog* repeat until end of round (56 sts remaining)
Row 48 (and all future even rows): Knit
Row 49: *K5, K2tog* repeat until end of round (48 sts remaining)
Row 51: *K4, K2tog* repeat until end of round (40 sts remaining)
Row 53: *K3, K2tog* repeat until end of round (32 sts remaining)
Row 55: *K2, K2tog* repeat until end of round (24 sts remaining)
Row 57: *K1, K2tog* repeat until end of round (16 sts remaining)
Row 59: *K2tog* repeat until end of round (8 sts remaining)
Cut the yarn leaving a long tail. Thread the tail through the remaining stitches and pull tight to close. Tie off and weave in the end of the remaining yarn.
Pom-Pom Instructions
There are many ways to make a pom-pom and you can find tons of tutorials by Googling it on the internet. For the purposes of this pattern, I’ll show you the method that I use.
Step 1: create your pom-pom maker
Get any piece of cardboard - I used an old Amazon shipping box, but I’ve also used cereal boxes or any other cardboard piece in the past. Your going to want to create two identical shapes similar to those in the photo below. I created mine by tracing the outline of a cup to form the outer circle and then tracing a nickel to form the inner circle. Once you have the shapes traced on the cardboard, cut them out using a sharp pair of scissors.
Step 2: Wrap the yarn
Next you will place both pom-pom makers on top of each other, and begin to wrap your yarn around both cardboard pom-pom makers as shown below. Try to cover as much of the cardboard as possible. I typically keep wrapping the yarn until it is at least an inch thick.
Step 3: Cut and tie off
Finally, you will place your scissors between the two cardboard circles and cut through the yarn as shown below (although you will have wrapped your yarn around the cardboard many more times than what is shown in the pic below). After you have cut the yarn, you will take a new piece of yarn about 8 inches long and thread it between the two pieces of cardboard tying the two ends tightly together to hold all of the pom-pom yarn in place. Lastly you will remove the cardboard pom-pom makers and voila! You have a pom-pom! Leave the tails of the binding yarn long so that you can use them to secure the pom-pom to your hat.
If any of the pom-pom directions were confusing, you can watch a demo of this method in this video.
Be sure to create TWO pom-poms of the same size for your bear hat ears.
For the final step, use your yarn needle to secure your pom-poms to the hat in the desired position.
***You may make and sell products from my patterns but if you do I ask that you link back to my post. Please do not copy and post this pattern and claim it as your own, or attempt to sell this pattern. Please do not re-publish photos as your own.