My first hat

When I decided I would like to try knitting, I first chose the project and then went to buy the needles and yarn needed. The best places to find free beginners patterns are Pintrest, YouTube or of course just Google! To start with I preferred YouTube tutorial as I liked being able to watch and copy rather than just follow a written pattern.

I found this great hat tutorial: Knit a Beginner Touque Hat

Before I started the project I searched YouTube for knitting tutorials and just practised casting on and basic stitching. You should know that I did not 'get it' straight away. There were many times I dropped a stitch, gained a stitch, had uneven sized stitches, and got so frustrated I just threw the needles down and gave up... But, once I got it, I loved it! So keep going!

The thing I love about this pattern is that it's large needles, so it's quick to make. Secondly, it's very simple, you only need to know the basic knit stitch. Also the technique for a hat is so simple; knit a large rectangle, join the edges to make a tube shape, then draw in the ends!

I chose not to add the buttons that are in the tutorial, because I personally preferred my colours without, but that's the great thing about free patterns, is you can adapt them to your own taste.

Enjoy :-)