Newborn Elf Hat Free Knitting Pattern

Written by: Maz from the Knitting Times

My daughter recently had her first baby and has asked me to knit him some elf hats.

She likes this style of hat for her newborn because they are not only very cute, but unusual and she’s been receiving some wonderful positive comments when she is out and about with her new baby boy in his pram.

Anyway, yesterday I whipped up this little blue and beige newborn elf hat from some leftover yarn that was in my (giant!) stash box.

Sadly I can’t recall the name of the yarn, but know that it was a light super chunky that works to 8mm knitting needles.

Today you can see the finished, free knitting pattern to make this very easy and fast to knit newborn baby elf hat.

I have suggested some yarns that will work with 8mm needles, incase you would like to make one.

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Materials needed to knit this fast and easy baby elf hat

To knit this cute little elf hat, you need around 50g of a light super chunky yarn. This type of super chunky works with 8mm needles and isn’t as thick as regular super chunky yarn, which you knit with 10mm or 12mm knitting needles.

Here are some suggestions of yarns which fit into this category, with links to the places I usually purchase them. There are more than 3 yarns that would work, I just personally know these particular three and really like to knit with them.

King Cole Comfort Chunky

Malabrigo Noventa

Lana Grossa Mille II

You can actually knit 3 strands of any yarn together to achieve the same texture as light super chunky yarn. This knitting pattern might well be ideal for people who have leftover baby aran yarns in their stash.

You will also need a pair each of 7mm and 8mm knitting needles. You can use only 8mm if you don’t have any 7mm.

I have recently discovered 25cm long Knitpro Zing knitting needles, and use these for all of my baby hat knitting now. If I use full length needles it can be quite painful on the hands. I like these Zing ones because each size is a different colour, making life easier when diving into the (somewhat large) knitting needle canister when starting a new project. They are also supposed to make knitting faster. I think they possibly do, actually.

Scissors and a sewing up needle complete the materials needed to knit this newborn elf hat.

Elf hat knitting pattern

To start knitting your newborn baby elf hat, using the 7mm needles and with colour 1 cast on 30 stitches.

Leave a long cast on tail for sewing up your work.

Knit 1 x 1 rib for 4 rows.

WITHOUT cutting the yarn, change to 8mm needles and add in yarn colour 2. Now, commencing with a k row, work in stocking stitch (k right side rows, p wrong side rows) for 12 rows. Change colour every two rows and keep this 2 row stripe pattern for the remainder of the hat.

Once you have worked 12 rows of stocking stitch, it is time to shape the top of your elf hat.

Shape top of hat as follows:

(K4, k2tog) across row (25)
P
(K3, k2tog) across row (20)
P
(K2, k2tog) across row (15)
P
(K1, k2tog)across row (10)
P
(K2tog) across row (5)
P
(K2tog) x2, k1 (3)
P

Cut the two strands of yarn at the top of the hat, ensuring you leave 50cm tails for both pieces. Thread these two pieces of yarn through the stitches on the needle and gather to form the top of the hat.

Using cast on tail, sew up back seam and sew in loose ends.

Now make a braided tail. Note that long tailed hats should only be worn by babies supervised by a responsible adult. You can omit the tail or keep it short for a more practical hat.

Cut 2 strands of yarn from the yarn used to make the hat, each one 1m. Thread the strands through the top of the hat as shown. You now have a total of 6 strands, including the yarn used to knit the hat. Divide the strands into 3 lots of 2 strands and braid for as long as you want the tail to be, knotting at the bottom to secure. Trim ends.

And that’s it, a very sweet little elf hat for a newborn baby.

Below you can see this pattern knit up with different yarn. I used a handspun yarn for the brim (I buy my handspun yarn from The Fibre Tree at Etsy) and then I switched to Malabrigo Noventa for the remainder of the elf hat and didn’t bother with stripes or a long tail. This is quite a versatile little knitting pattern.

I hope you enjoyed this free knitting pattern. I have created a compilation for quick and easy newborn baby knitting patterns in my book, 30 Quick Knits for Newborns, which you can read for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. The book has a sweet little super chunky newborn elf hat, for a really quick and cute knitting idea for fans of unique looking baby hats.