How to knit
A Beanie With Ear Flaps
Ear Flap Hat
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welcome back to snowy owl nets a a
couple of weeks ago my daughter-in-law
who I just adore and I we were visiting
and she decided she she needed a warmer
hat for my grandson who's almost five
months old now and so she showed me one
that was made out of cotton and it was
too small for him now and asked me if I
would knit one of course
yes I can do that I can do that of
course I can of course here's the story
here's the down low here's the scoop on
this her mother
well my daughter-in-laws from the Czech
Republic she's just a wonderful
wonderful person her mother Teresa is of
course from the Czech Republic is as
well and when I met her a couple of
months ago after our grandsons her
grandson was born she had a pair of
chopsticks that she had whittled down
and she was knitting away these these
gorgeous seamless socks two chopsticks
making socks so there was a little bit
of hmm
Wow if she can do that I can do that
kind of thing you know there's a little
grandma competition going on she's
lovely
I'm sure if she watches this she'll
laugh and remember it but when I decided
yes I want to do the hats that mean hats
are my favorite thing to do really I got
home and I realized well how am I gonna
do that like how do I make the ear flap
look seamless with the hat and so I
tried a couple of different things and I
came up with a way of doing it that I
want to share with you so here oh and
the other part of the story is that my
daughter-in-law what she realized that
her son was getting one she called me up
and said do you think you could make us
matching ones holy cow yes pressure was
on so here's the baby version right here
and these are not Dallas Cowboy colors
they're actually heather gray and
Heather blue so that's any of you could
you know confuse me
with being you know making him cowboy
memorabilia you're wrong so I just want
you to notice and you'll get it closed
up later these ear flaps are all that
seamlessly with the body of the Hat and
the mothers is the same way this these
are done in garter stitch which is when
you're knitting in the round it's knit
one row purl one row knit one purl one
row but the reason I decided to go with
garter stitch was because these ear
flaps if you did this in stockinette
stitch they would curl and I don't think
there's any mountain of blocking in the
world that it takes care of some of that
stockinette girl so now that they've got
their hats I want one of my own but I
wanted out of this eco duo zebra
it's just luscious and so that's what
we're gonna do I'm gonna show you the
process from start to finish without all
the boring stuff in between and you too
can have your own hat I think the thing
that I really want you to take away from
this is that it's not just a pattern it
this is a method that you can use and
you can use any stitch that you want
with it
it's the construction of it that I
wanted to give to you so for your of
your work you're going to need if you
want to use this eco duo this is called
the colorway of zebra and we'll be using
circular needles with an 18 inch
diameter you'll need a set of double
pointed needles you'll need a crochet
hook a tapestry needle let's see if I
can pick it up tapestry needle a little
stitch marker one will do and a pair of
scissors so let's get started
so the construction of the Hat is
actually fairly simple we're going to
begin by creating two ear flaps that
will be of course on the ear side of the
head once we have those knit up and we
have them on a set of double pointed
needles
we will then cast on on our circular
needles we'll do seven stitches to begin
with just cast them on then we will knit
each ear flap will knit the first ear
flap botted say and then we will use the
knitted cast on to do the front section
we'll do 20 stitches there and then
we'll go ahead and just knit the second
ear flap on and we will do the knitted
cast on and six stitches and the reason
we have seven stitches in one area and
six and the other is because we're going
to use one extra stitch to do the
invisible join so let's get started with
making the ear flaps like I said for the
Hat you'll need a set of double pointed
needles but to do the two ear flaps
you'll begin by using three about two at
a time but three I'm using a size six
double pointed needle these are made by
Adi and they're the addi flips they're
eight inches long and I love them
because they have a very pointed tip at
one end and a blunt tip at the other and
I prefer using this pointed tip for a
lot of some of the stitches like the
knitting front and back so let's get
started here with the the ear flaps we
don't need much tail and we're just
going to cast on two stitches like so
and on the first row just to kind of
solidify
this cast on a row I'm gonna hold that
tail down just a little bit and just
knit whoops it slipped around anyway I'm
going to knit these two stitches I
always find that first row to be a
little bit wonky so that's why I do the
two stitches now on the earflaps we are
going to create a small eyelet which we
can then thread the little strings
through that that go with ear flap hat
so to do that I'm going to on this next
row I'm going to knit one I'm going to
do a yarn over and knit the last one
and then on this next row let me get
everything tightened up just a little
bit I'm going to knit the first one and
just let that yarn over fall off the
needle and knit the last stitch you know
if you want to give it a little tug you
can the hole itself the little
decorative hole won't be as noticeable
until we get a little bit further up but
this is where we start the increases in
order to do the increase on this first
one we're going to knit the front and
back of both stitches so we begin
knitting and don't pull the stitch off
the needle
then we pivot around and we go into the
back leg of that stitch from the top and
wrap the yard and knit that and now we
have two stitches where we'd only had
one before so again we're going to knit
front and back so I begin knitting but I
do not pull this stitch off of the
needle I just take my right needle and
go in through the back leg from the top
of that stitch and knit that
and now I've got four stitches on the
next row I'm just going to knit all
stitches so basically what we're doing
is an increase row followed by a plain
knit row and an increase row followed by
a plain knit row so just on our plain
knit row and now we're going to increase
just the first and the last stitch of
the row we'll knit the front and back so
I think I split that yard front and the
back
and knit the next two stitches and on
the last stitch we knit the front and
the back
and then we'll follow that by a play
Metro
unless return row everything seems to
kind of tighten up and feel much better
and oops
trying to split yarn all over the place
this eco duo yarn is so nice to the
touch and it's called zebra as you can
see it has a center that's a little bit
darker which so I'm pulling from the
outside right now so we've just finished
a plain knit row and it's time to
continue increasing will increase on the
first stitch and the last stitch and
just knit everything in between and
we'll repeat this until we have 20
stitches on the needle and at that point
we can begin to cast on so knit front
and back just keep going until you have
your 20 stitches okay so I have my ear
flaps done and I have them sitting here
and waiting on my double pointed needles
and I'm just going to kind of set these
to the side and I'm going to get my
double pointed needles out the
circumference of this set because I'm
using the shorter needles is 18 inches
and I chose that because this yarn is
very stretchy and I found that when I
try to make something that seems the
right size like if I think of a 21 inch
head I want 20 inches it's always too
big and so I just end up going a little
bit smaller because I like for a tighter
fit not a you know cut off the
circulation fit but
one that's tight enough so I am going to
get a length of yarn and we're going to
start by casting on seven stitches so
I'm just going to wrap that yarn four or
five six seven just to make sure I have
enough along with my tail and then I get
myself a little extra because I get a
little nervous about it so I'm just
going to use the longtail cast on three
four five six and seven once I have
those in place and I get my tail kind of
out of the way I'm going to pick up one
of my ear flaps and I'm going to knit
these off of the needle so let me get my
working yarn make sure I have enough out
there and you'll find when you do this
that this first stitch because it just
has a tail hanging off it's going to
feel a little bit loose but that you can
tighten that up later so I have my seven
stitches cast on and now I'm just going
to knit these stitches off of the ear
flap and it's it's very nice that this
is done in garter stitch because you
don't have to worry about a right side
and a wrong side when you're doing this
you can just pick up those ear flaps and
start knitting just knit them right on
there
and let's see I'm gonna give everything
just a little tug down there to make
myself feel better
this is really a very simple hat I think
the only thing that makes it a little
less easy is that when you start working
in the round and you want garter stitch
you have to knit one round and purl one
round so I guess if you're not a fan of
purling that might put you off a little
bit but I don't find it too terribly
troubling okay they almost have this
first ear flap on and now what I'm going
to do is put aside this double pointed
needle and to do the knitted cast on we
we've actually turned our work around
here because we have to cast stitches on
with just one strand now we can't do the
usual longtail cast on
so this knitted cast on works by
beginning to knit that stitch and then
you pull a length of it out and you
twist it and place it on the Left needle
and you could just leave your needle
where it is because you're going to
continue pulling up yarn as if you were
knitting turning it and going twisting
it so that you can go in through the
bottom and just continue
until you have 20 stitches cast on let's
see here we have 19 and 20 so that's the
front part of the hat and now we need to
turn our needles again we have the back
half of the hat we have one ear flap we
have the front of the hat and now it's
time to knit on our second ear flap and
it's just like it was before just simply
knit them on you can check to make sure
you haven't left a gap with your join
but just kind of snugging it up a little
bit
helps ensure that and when the Hat is
finished you have the opportunity with
some of the tails that are here to you
know kind of remedy any slight
imperfections if there are any so let's
get this ear flap on here
and then all we have to do is cast on
the last six stitches for the back of
the Hat
you know it's so cold where I am right
now and it feels very good to be meeting
with nice soft yarn I can't seem to get
my studio warm enough ever but I'd still
do this in the summer if I wanted and
here I'm just kind of snugging up that
last stitch which is where I had cast on
so there we go we just have seven more
stitches or six more stitches to do here
at the very end of the Hat and again
we're doing the knitted cast on
that's three let me scoot these down
warm
five
and last one
six
so now as you can see if I lay this out
it looks like a upside-down bathing suit
at this point but we have half of the
Hat here half of the back an ear flap
the front of the Hat and the other half
of the back so I'm just going to bring
my needles up kind of scooch my stitches
up and around it's going to feel
slightly tight at this point but not
terribly so and if you don't remember
the invisible join basically what we do
is we take that seventh stitch that we
began with
and we slip it over to the right needle
right yes and then we slip one stitch
from the right needle over that slip
stitch and let it fall off and then we
just take that stitch back
and we're ready to just begin knitting
on the first round you can just knit
and on the next round you'll be hurling
and that way you continue with the
garter stitch so I just wanted to show
you after several rows of the garter
stitch from adding on the air flaps the
piece you really there's no seam at all
for these ear flaps I have went ahead
and woven my ends you can see it's it's
really just this is the front of the hat
and everything looks just as it should
and and so I'll continue to knit one row
and purl one row until I've reached oh
about two inches from where I need to
start decreasing and and then just shape
the crown that way and I'll come back
and fit a pom-pom on it and put my
strings on here I don't know if these
little holes are gonna show up or not
these little decorative holes that we
made basically it's just big enough that
you're not stretching out the stitches
when you are putting your tassel through
just that little bit of extra room makes
a difference so that's where we are so
far and we'll just keep going and until
we get to the end okay so I finished up
with the Hat itself and attached a
little pom-pom to the top and now it's
time to make the tassels so I have cut
six lengths of yarn about 36 inches long
I'm going to use three on one side and
three on the other and so I'm going to
use my crochet hook and find that small
hole that I made at the beginning it's
kind of hidden in here
so if I can get that there we go and I
will grab the center of one of these
lengths of yarn and pull it from the
front up through the back so that the
loop comes up in the front just like
this and then pull out just enough yarn
like this that you can get your fingers
through and pull that length through and
then cinch it up a little bit and they
say if this will be done for both sides
we're making enough of a yard and tie
that you can actually tie it so when you
doubled it up you ended up with six
strands and so you just want to separate
them into twos just like this and just
begin braiding and make it just snug
enough that it's holding together but
not so tight that it pulls and stretches
and takes a minute or two to get to the
end that will get there
when you get down here towards the
bottom and you have the like that you
prefer for the Tassili part of this
which you would like what you need to do
at this point let's separate out one
strand from each side and bring these
others to the middle and you will then
begin to tie in the front not too
tightly at first and then flip it over
and tie it in the back as well and what
this does is it keeps it all together in
a very neat way where it can't come
apart at I can't come off and go ahead
and just sort of pull on everything to
make sure you've got it got the right
tension so in the front you have a neat
meeting and in the back is where you
want to tie the actual not get my strand
back I'll probably double knot this
is to keep it really secure because I'm
going to snip these ends rather closely
and then I'll just even out the very end
and snip them off like this so you have
a good long tie here on the Hat and
you'll repeat this for the other side
now what did want to mention that you
could also do an i-cord tie if you
wanted but because this hat has such
color runs and in fact some parts of the
duvall were actually very dark I wanted
to make sure that both of my tassels
ended up the same and so this is why I
made sure to cut lengths of yarn that
we're very very similar and so that's
all there is to the Hat once you've
gotten yourself cleaned up and it looks
just gorgeous I mean it's it's without
seams you can't see where the ears are
joined and it's just it's soft and
beautiful this will keep me warm
listener when I'm out thanks again for
joining me it's been a pleasure having
you and I hope to see you again soon
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