A knitted hat with a beard

With Halloween coming up, I thought a knitted hat with a beard would be an excellent pattern to both protect you from the elements and add to a costume. This is a hat, just like the pattern provided last month, with a beard attachment. I say attachment, because it’s removable.

materials
1 Hat
1 ball of Red Heart’s Boutique Fur yarn in color Smoke
1 set of needles US 15 [10mm]
1 tapestry needle

Cast on 4 stitches, follow the two rows below until your beard reaches approximately 8″ in width. This measurement may be different if you’re knitting this for a man, woman or child. To find the measurement for your particular garment, measure from one side of the jaw (just underneath the ear) around the chin to the other side.

Row 1: Knit all stitches
Row 2: K1, kfb, k to the last two stitches, kfb, k1

To make an opening for the mouth, bind off the middle 6 stitches. If your beard is 12 stitches, you’ll k3, bo5, k3. When you turn your work the other way, cast on those same stitches using the backwards loop method. Knit one row plain and bind off. Leave a tail of yarn to loop back into the beard to slip around buttons on the inside of hat. You can weave the end in with your fingers and tie the end into the beard itself. There’s enough texture with this yarn that small knots like this will secure your ends and go unnoticed in the body of your work. Cut a 5″ length of yarn and make a loop for the other side and wear with pride!

The beautiful part of this pattern is the ability to detach the beard. While this is fantastic for cold weather and keeps chilly air off your face, there may be occasions where you want to wear the hat without its hairy counterpart. You can also make any adjustments you choose, such as a longer beard, adding in a braided plait, some longer strands for an impressive mustache. The possibilities are endless!

Although this knitted hat with a beard is a great idea for Halloween, it can also be knit up in white for the Christmas season and created for Santa’s beard. So easy and so fast to knit up! Join me tomorrow for more knitting fun.