Free Halloween Hat Knitting Pattern

Are you one of those people who’s allergic to discussing holidays months before they’re in season? Well, I usually am, too. But I wanted to share this free Halloween hat knitting pattern with enough time to spare for any knitters to tackle the project before All Hallow’s Eve.

When I was putting this knitting chart together, I wanted to include all the most kitschy Halloween elements in one hat. Black cats? Check. Jack ‘o Lanterns? For sure. White ghosts and green skulls to top it all off? Perfect, bring it on.

The end result is a Halloween knit hat that features four festive colors and a chart to follow right up to the last row of decreases. It’s vivid, it’s spooky, and best of all, it’s warm enough to protect your ears during a long, cold night of trick-or-treating.

Halloween Hat Knitting Pattern Instructions

I’ve published the pattern in one free PDF for your convenience, but I’ll also walk you through it in this post. If you’d rather skip the explanation and get your hands on the file, you can download it here:

Required Materials & Techniques

Yarn:

• 1 skein worsted weight yarn in black (150 yards)
• 1 skein worsted weight yarn in purple (75 yards)
• 1 skein worsted weight yarn in orange (50 yards)
• 1 skein worsted weight yarn in lime green (50 yards)

Recommended: Soft worsted weight yarn. I often knit with Caron Simply Soft, but any soft acrylic or wool worsted weight picks should do the trick! Of course, I always recommend supporting a local seller if you can.

Materials:

• DPNs or 9” round needles in US 7 / 4.5 mm
• tapestry/yarn needle and/or small crochet hook
• Scissors

Needle size will depend on your gauge. Mine tends to be quite big, so US 5-6 needles may be for you.

Abbreviations:

• m1 – make one
• SSK – slip slip knit (form of decrease)
• k2tog – knit 2 together (alternate decrease)

Size: Standard adult (made for head ~22 in. circumference, length is 9.5 inches from brim to top as written)

Gauge: 16 stitches and 18 rows = 4 inches

Knitting Instructions & Halloween Chart

Brim:

• black yarn – Cast on 84 stitches
• join, k1p1 across and add stitch marker
• k1p1 for 10 rows (or until brim reaches ~2 in in height)

Body:

Now, we’re ready to start on the good stuff: the Halloween hat knitting chart. For the rest of the pattern, you’re going to be following this chart, but I’ve included more specific written instructions to guide you, too.

The pattern should work well for knitters fairly new to colorwork, although it will require some longer floats. Any time you see a single color in the chart that extends past ~1 inch, remember to float the other color behind it to carry it along. My personal rule is not to float a strand more than 4 stitches at a time.

• Row 1: work chart 3 times across. m1 every 12 stitches to increase from 84 stitches to 90 stitches across.
• Rows 2-27: knit — work chart 3 times each

Crown:

Our decreases are marked on the chart. Each SSK decrease stitch is shown with a white slash. Or, refer to these written instructions while following the chart:

• Row 28: k8, SSK repeat until end
• Row 28: knit across
• Row 29: k7, SSK repeat until end
• Row 30: knit across
• Row 31: k6, SSK repeat until end
• Row 32: knit across
• Row 33: k5, SSK repeat until end
• Row 34: knit across
• Row 35: k4, SSK repeat until end
• Row 36: knit across
• Row 37: k3, SSK repeat until end
• Row 38: knit across
• Row 39: k2, SSK repeat until end
• Row 40: knit across
• Row 41: k1, SSK repeat until end
• remove stitch marker before finishing

Finish:

After Row 42, you should have 18 stitches left. Cut your working yarn and thread it onto your tapestry needle.

Pull the end back through the remaining stitches and close. Weave in all ends.

• 

• 

Customization Options for Your Halloween Hat

I have a certain way of doing things, but I always like to suggest a few alternatives if you prefer your knit hats with longer brims or different decrease stitches. If you want to switch these things up, follow these instructions:

FOLDED BRIM: To match the example piece, knit 10 rows of k1p1 as instructed. For a longer, foldable brim, k1p1 until brim reaches ~6-7 inches.

ALTERNATE DECREASE: Instead of SSK, you can knit2tog to create right-leaning decreases instead of left-leaning decreases. The crown will finish with a similar shape, but I prefer the look of SSK!

Update: Pattern Now in Children’s Size!

Due to popular demand, I’ve finally created a chart and instruction modification to knit this for a child’s hat. The gauge and needles will remain the same.

Download the pattern with child’s size instructions on the last two pages:

This is an estimation, but this should knit up a hat that’s about 16 in. circumference, likely good for toddlers and small children. Take this with a grain of salt — because I don’t make a lot of children’s hats — but if they’re a bit older, I think I’d just go ahead and knit the adult size. It will be roomy, but pretty cozy.

Enjoy Your Free Halloween Hat Knitting Pattern!

Purchase a Finished Halloween Hat From My Etsy Shop!

Thanks so much! If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below or contact me separately. I’ll do my best to promptly update the pattern when needed.

I hope everyone has a great time knitting and enjoys rocking this hat outside once October rolls around. I know I’ll be tempted to wear this out and about as soon as the temperatures start dropping.