Want a classic gift for a little one in your life? Try this basic baby hat knitting pattern for a gift sure to please.

I love baby hats – they work up so fast, make great gifts and look just plain adorable on little ones. I wanted to design a hat that could be the foundation for many future designs, maybe with stranded colorwork, fair isle or another pattern.

So I designed this baby hat pattern knit in Stockinette stitch with a simple ribbed brim. This is something that an advanced beginner knitter could tackle, with double pointed needles or even with the magic loop (which is what I used).

For this newborn hat, I wanted a yarn that was easy to care for (babies are messy!), came in a wide variety of colors, was great against baby’s delicate skin (can we say no wool for baby hats?) and worked up quickly.

This easy knitting pattern is worked in the round, so you will need to use double pointed needles (dpns) or one long circular for the magic loop. I tend to have trouble with laddering when I use dpns so I chose the magic loop for my hat.