Char Char Hat Knitting Pattern – Free Cable Knit Hat

A chunky cable hat knitting pattern – my Char Char Hat can now be found FREE here on the blog! Read through my inspiration for this pattern, find the perfect yarn, or scroll down for the free pattern.

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The Staghorn Cable

I like to consider my style classic with a pop of unexpected. I’ll typically wear neutral simple pieces and add in an accent item like a royal blue flat shoe, statement necklace or hot pink earrings.

One day while scrolling through knit cables on Pinterest I came across the Staghorn Cable and felt like it perfectly fit my style. This dramatic wide cable gets its name from the horns of a stag (male deer). To me, it looked powerful and majestic and reminded me of growing up in Duluth, Minnesota where you can find groups deer grazing in your backyard. I knew that someday I wanted to incorporate a staghorn cable into a cable hat knitting pattern.

To go along with my typical style I chose to surround the staghorn cable with a simple broken-rib texture. This combination makes for an easy knit that packs a big punch.

A Hat Pattern for Makers and Gifters.

When I designed this hat I was still selling hand-knit hats in my Etsy shop and thought it would be the perfect addition to my product collection. It requires only one skein of super bulky weight yarn and takes about an hour to knit so it drives a good profit margin. This makes it a great item to stock your market or online shop with. It’s also unique so you won’t be finding something like it at a big box store. That’s important when you are trying to show the value in your handknit item.

Another thing I love this pattern for is gift-giving. When giving knitting as a gift, I try to find patterns that are quick and cost-effective. This hat from start to finish takes about 1- 1.5 hours to knit, weave in ends, and attach the pom.

Behind the name. Baby Charlotte – a.k.a. Char Char

By the time I finished designing this hat pattern my miracle baby, Charlotte, was 2 weeks away from turning one. She was the baby that we spent years praying for and were told that we may never have another child unless we used medical intervention. The week before a final fertility test to determine our next steps I found out I was pregnant!

My pregnancy with Charlotte wasn’t an easy one. She put me through a lot! There were many times when I feared we would lose her so her birth was a very special time for our family. Our “big kids” were 6 and 8 years old at the time she was born and they love Charlotte to the point of smothering her. They call her “Char Char” and have thanked God for this wonderful gift that He has given our family.

With her birthday coming up I wanted to name this hat pattern after her.

PIN IT!

Choosing the Best Yarn

When creating this pattern I wanted it to be suitable for many different brands of super bulky yarn as my goal was to create something that I at the time, and others, could sell at markets or in their Etsy shop and give as gifts. Depending on price point and availability, many makers choose to sell items with one particular brand of yarn so I thought it would be great to test this pattern out with many different brands! Here are my insights below.

I have also created this handy price chart to show you how much each brand of yarn will cost you when making this hat. Each yarn listed goes up in price so you can decide how much you want to spend when creating your hat.

Lion Brand – Wool-Ease Thick and Quick

This yarn is one of my favorites to use in this pattern. It’s the yarn I used for my cream/white hat that I feature in many of my photos. The thickness of the yarn is a perfect match making this hat flexible and super cozy at the same time. Lion Brand – Wool Ease Thick and Quick is a great inexpensive option that has a nice stitch definition to show off the cable and has the widest color range out of all the yarns I tried. You can find this yarn here.

Knit Picks – Tuff Puff

If I could pick a great all-around yarn for this hat my number one would be Knit Picks – Tuff Puff. I like that it’s 100% wool and doesn’t have any acrylic (plastic) fibers in it. At the same time, it’s cost-effective! If you look at the above chart, even though you need 2 balls/skeins of Tuff Puff to knit one Char Char Hat the total cost is more than half of what you would pay for any other 100% wool yarn.

Knit Picks is able to provide this value because they work directly with the mills creating the yarn. If you plan to sell these hats you can choose to either make more of a profit or offer a better price for your hats and still make enough money. If your plan is to give this as a gift, your overall gift price will go down and maybe you add in a matching cowl too! You can find this yarn here.

Tuff Puff is similar to the We Are Knitters – The Wool yarn, listed below, in the fact that it creates somewhat of a longer hat. I would recommend removing 2 rows of the brim if you want to shorten it. This is noted in the pattern as well.

We Are Knitters – The Wool

I love how soft and cozy We Are Knitters – The Wool yarn is. This is a luxury yarn that is slightly thicker than the Wool-Ease Thick and Quick and Tuff Puff. The thickness of the yarn creates a hat that is a touch larger and longer. In the pattern, I make a note where you can remove 2 rows if you want to shorten the length when using this yarn. I find it fits people with larger heads perfectly and so I like to simply advertise it as an adult M/L size hat. You can find this yarn here. Use my WAk Friends code: MGMTU5LO5 at check-out to receive $12 off your first order!

Malabrigo – Rasta

If ever there was yarn to have a love affair with, it would be Malabrigo, Rasta. This is the softest yarn I have ever knit with and once you try it you will see why knitters on Instagram are raving. Rasta is a slightly thinner yarn than the WET&Q and so creates a hat that fits a little more snug and shorter. I would call it an adult Small. If you want to knit a larger size I would recommend going up a needle size or adding 2 rows to the brim section.

I used to be able to buy Malabrigo, Rasta at my local yarn shop but it has since closed so finding it online is a bit more of a challenge. There are times that many colors will be sold out on certain sites and Malabrigo does not sell it directly on their own website. Jimmy Beans Wool is one place that carries it online. You can find it here.

Wool and the Gang – Crazy Sexy Wool + Sugar Bush – Chill.

Both of these yarns I cannot personally comment on as I’ve never had the chance to work with them. My test knitters did use them however and found that Wool and the Gang – Crazy Sexy Wool worked up similar to We Are Knitters – The Wool and Sugar Bush – Chill was very similar to Malabrigo Rasta.

Char Char Hat – Cable Hat Knitting Pattern

• Purchase the inexpensive, ad-free, printable PDF pattern here. PDF includes a helpful tally chart and photo tutorials of each cable stitch.
• Save this to your Ravelry queue here.
• Pin it to Pinterest for later here.

Directions:

The Char Char Hat is knit in the round from the bottom up and features a large staghorn cable in the front surrounded by a relaxing broken garter ribbing. Topped with a faux fur Pom Pom it is the perfect hat to stock your market or Etsy shop for gift giving!

Supplies:

• Approx. 75 yards of Super Bulky, weight 6 yarn (See yarn chart above)
• US 13/9mm 16″ circular knitting needles (These are the needles I use and love! They are interchangeable so you can easily size up or down when needed depending on your gauge and the yarn you choose. I use the US 13 needle from here and pair it with this 16″ short cord for this pattern.)
• US 13/9mm double pointed needles or 32″ circulars for magic loop. (I personally like to do the magic loop method so I keep my main needle and simply switch out the cord length.)
• Cable Needle
• Tapestry Needle
• 2 Large Stitch Markers
• Scissors
• Pom Pom (optional)

Gauge:

4×4” / 10x10cm = 9 stitches x 16 rows in stockinette for 

• Malabrigo Rasta
• Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick

4×4” / 10x10cm = 8 stitches x 12 rows in stockinette for 

• We Are Knitters The Wool
• Wool and The Gang Crazy Sexy Wool
• Knit Picks Tuff Puff

Measurements:

Finished hat will measure approximately 9”/23cm tall and 8.5”/21.59cm wide

Size:

One Size – Adult (See yarn notes for additional sizing details)

Glossary:

ST(S) =       Stitch(es)

CO =           Cast On

K =             Knit

P =             Purl

Rep =         Repeat

PM =          Place Marker

SM =          Slip Marker

KFB =         Knit into the front and the back of the same stitch (increase stitch)

K2TOG =    Knit two stitches together (decrease stitch)

C4B =         Cable over 4 stitches to the back. Slide the first two stitches from the left needle onto the cable needle. Move the cable needle to the back of the work. Knit the next 2 stitches from the left needle and then knit the 2 stitches from the cable needle. (See Notes)

C4F =         Cable over 4 stitches to the front. Slide the first two stitches from the left needle onto the cable needle. Move the cable needle to the front of the work. Knit the next 2 stitches from the left needle and then knit the 2 stitches from the cable needle. (See Notes)

DPN = Double-pointed needles

Pattern:

Using the long-tail cast on method, cast on 40 stitches, place marker, and join in the round. Be careful not to twist stitches.

Brim:

Rounds 1-8: *K1, P1: Rep from * until end of round.

(If using Knit Picks – Tuff Puff, We are Knitters – The Wool or Wool and the Gang – Crazy Sexy Wool, skip rounds 7 & 8 of the brim for a more fitted/less slouchy hat)

Increase Round:

Round 9: K1, *KFB, K10, KFB: Rep from * until you reach the last 3 stitches, KFB, K2. (47 sts).

Body:

Round 10: K4, C4B, C4F, K4, PM, *P1, K1; Rep from * until you reach the last stitch, P1.

Round 11: K around to second marker, SM, P1, K around until you reach the last stitch, P1.

Round 12: K2, C4B, K4, C4F, K2, SM, *P1, K1; Rep from * until you reach the last stitch, P1.

Round 13: Repeat Round 11

Round 14: C4B, K8, C4F, SM *P1, K1. Rep from * until you reach the last stitch, P1.

Round 15: Repeat Round 11.

Rounds 16 – 27: Repeat Rounds 10 – 15 Two More Times (Total of 3 rounds) 

Rounds 28 – 30: Repeat Rounds 10 – 12 One More Time (This makes for a total of 4 times for these rounds)

Decrease:

(Switch to DPNs or magic loop method if desired.)

Round 31: *K2Tog, K2: Rep from * until you reach the last 3 stitches, K2Tog, K1. (35 sts)

Round 32: *K2Tog, K1: Rep from * until you reach the last 2 stitches, K2Tog. (22 sts)

Cut yarn, leaving a 10”/24.5cm tail. Using your tapestry needle, thread the yarn through the remaining stitches and pull tightly to close the top of the hat. Weave in the ends and attach a pom pom if desired.

I love to share what others have made using my patterns so make sure to use #charcharhat and tag @whimsynorth in your posts!

• Purchase the inexpensive, ad-free, printable PDF pattern here. PDF includes a helpful tally chart and photo tutorials of each cable stitch.
• Save this to your Ravelry queue here.
• Pin it to Pinterest for later here.

More FREE Knitting Patterns click HERE!

©2020 Margaret Stauffacher. All rights reserved. This pattern and photos are property of Whimsy North and may not be altered, shared, or sold. You’re welcome to sell finished products made with this pattern, but please credit me: Margaret Stauffacher of Whimsy North and link to my shop www.etsy.com/shop/whimsynorth