Knit Look Beanie Crochet Pattern

The best part about this knit look beanie pattern is that you get to play with yarn colors! This pattern does not technically have a brim, but the color placement is meant to make it “look” like it has one. Using a solid color for the first 8 rows and a coordinating variegated yarn for the rest of the hat gives it a “faux” brim.

Get ready to spend some time in the yarn department holding different skeins of yarn together to decide which ones “match” the best! This is my favorite part. In fact, I liked it so much I kept picking color combos and ended up with 3 different beanies. I could have kept going!

However, if picking colors is NOT your favorite, you can just as easily make this knit look beanie in one solid color as well!

How to Make Crochet Look Knit

There are a couple crochet stitches that can mimic the look of knitted work. One is the slip stitch in the back loop only. This one is done in a back and forth rows method. The other is the waistcoat stitch. This one has the best results when done in the round.

Since I wanted to have my work change colors along a horizontal line, the waistcoat stitch was the better pick in order to avoid lots of color changes.

The waistcoat stitch is basically the same as a single crochet stitch, except for where you insert your hook at the start of the stitch. One of the challenges of this stitch is that it is a very tight stitch and it is easy to end up stitching TOO tightly. You will want to consciously work to keep your stitches loose. It can also help to move up a hook size or two from what you would usually use.

If you’ve never crocheted the waistcoat stitch before, you can start with this video tutorial:

The Yarn For This Pattern

When looking for color coordinating yarns, there’s no place better to look than Hobby Lobby. Their wide selection of colors in their “I Love This Yarn” line allows for lots of mixing and matching!

Besides the color selection, this yarn is also very soft and nice to work with. It has lots of bounce and squish, making it a great choice for wearable items, as well as blankets and anything else you might want to snuggle up with.

Pattern

If you would like to purchase an inexpensive, ad-free printable pdf version of this knit look beanie pattern, you can find it here at my Etsy shop.

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Materials:

I Love This Yarn weight 4 medium in two colors (100% Acrylic, 7oz/199g, 355yd/325m) 33 yards Dark Denim (not including pom pom) 167 yards Lakefront
US I9 / 5.5 mm Crochet Hook
US J / 6.0 mm Crochet Hook
Yarn Needle
Scissors
Stitch Marker

Gauge:

After round 8 my work was 20” around and 2” tall.

Sizing:

20” circumference x 8.5” tall

Abbreviations Used:

(st) stitch
(ch) chain
(sl st) slip stitch
(fsc) foundation single crochet
Special stitch: (Wc) waistcoat stitch

How to Crochet the Waistcoat Stitch (Wc):

Instead of inserting your hook in the gap between stitches, insert your hook into the center of the “v” on the post of the next stitch. Yarn over and pull through. Yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook.

Pattern Notes:

Beginning chain of round 2 does not count as a stitch.

I tend to crochet tightly. So be sure to check your gauge and if you are crocheting more loosely you can move to a smaller hook (or larger if you crochet even more tightly). Some people find they even need to go down two hook sizes to meet my gauge.

This pattern does not technically have a brim, but the color placement is meant to make it “look” like it has one. Using a solid color for the first 8 rows and a coordinating variegated yarn for the rest of the hat gives it a “faux” brim. However, the hat can just as easily be completed in one solid color if preferred.

My suggestion for color selection is to choose a variegated yarn that has lots of colors close together. Longer stretches of the same color in the yarn will create stripes and/or color blocks. When selecting the brim color, I prefer to choose a color that matches the darkest color in the variegated yarn.

It can be easy to stitch very tightly when completing the waistcoat stitch, which makes it hard to insert your hook into the stitches. You may need to intentionally loosen up your tension for this stitch.

Since the waistcoat stitch tends to be stitched more tightly than other stitches, I instruct you to use an I hook for the first round (which is done in single crochet) and switch to a J hook for the subsequent waistcoat stitch rounds. However, if you don’t find you struggle matching your tension for both stitches, you can use the same hook size for both.

Pattern:

Round 1: (Using the I hook) Fsc 66. Join with a sl st to the first fsc to create a circle. Use the beginning tail and a yarn needle to join the bottom of the first fsc to the bottom of the last fsc.<66>

Alternative: If you prefer not to use the fsc stitch, you can ch 66 and join the ch with a sl st to create a circle. Then ch 1 and sc around. Join with a sl st to the first sc. <66> However, this method will not provide the stretch on the brim that the fsc will provide.

My round was approximately 20” around. You can resize your beanie by adjusting the number of stitches in this round to any number needed to get your desired width.

Round 2: (switch to J hook) Ch 1. Wc in the next st and in each st around. <66> Do not join but in the next round begin to stitch in a continuous spiral. Use a stitch marker to keep track of the last stitch of the round.

Rounds 3 – 8: Repeat round 2. At the end of Round 8, change colors.

Rounds 9 – 39: Repeat round 2 until your work is approximately 8.5” tall.

Finish off, leaving a long tail for cinching the top of the hat shut.

Using the long tail and a yarn needle, weave the tail in and out along the last round of stitches. Pull tight to cinch the top of the hat shut. Tie off and weave in your ends. Add a pom pom if desired.

PIN IT FOR LATER