45 Hat in Lana Grossa Cool Wool - Downloadable PDF

Design 45 Men's Hat in Lana Grossa Cool Wool – Free Knitting Pattern Summary

This free downloadable PDF from Lana Grossa presents Design 45 from the Merino Edition collection — a classic, structured men's ribbed hat knitted in the round using the brand's popular Cool Wool yarn. The design is clean and versatile, with a deep ribbed body and a neatly shaped crown, making it an excellent project for intermediate knitters looking to build confidence with double-pointed needles and in-the-round construction.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a men's knitted hat sized to fit head circumferences of 55–58 cm (smaller size) and 59–62 cm (larger size). The finished hat measures approximately 21.5 cm (smaller) or 23 cm (larger) in width and 30 cm in length. A notable design detail is the tip included in the pattern: the hat is intended to be worn turned inside out, giving the reverse side of the ribbing a subtly different visual texture as the finished exterior.

Materials Used

• Yarn: Lana Grossa Cool Wool — 100% pure wool, 160 m per 50 g skein. The colorway specified is Midnight (col 414), a deep, rich dark tone. A total of 100 g (two 50 g skeins) is required for either size.
• Needles: One set of size 3.5 mm double-pointed needles (dpns), used throughout the entire project.

Techniques Used

• Double-stranded long-tail cast-on: The hat begins with a long-tail cast-on worked with the yarn held double. This method creates a firm, elastic edge that is well suited to the ribbed brim of a hat, helping it grip the head securely without rolling or stretching out of shape.
• Knitting in the round on double-pointed needles: Stitches are distributed evenly across four double-pointed needles (28 or 30 stitches per needle depending on size), with a fifth needle used as the working needle. This is the traditional method for knitting small-circumference tubes such as hat crowns and sleeves.
• Crown shaping with paired decreases: The crown is shaped using a structured decrease sequence. A set-up round places markers to define decrease zones, and subsequent decrease rounds use k2tog (knit two together, a right-leaning decrease) and skp (slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over — a left-leaning decrease) to reduce stitches symmetrically. Alternating decrease rounds with plain rounds creates a gradual, smooth taper.
• Final crown closure: Once the stitch count is reduced to 12 stitches, the yarn is cut and the tail is drawn through the remaining live stitches and pulled tight — the standard method for closing a knitted hat crown neatly.

Stitches Used

• Rib pattern (k1, p1): The entire body of the hat is worked in a one-by-one rib — alternating one knit stitch and one purl stitch every round. This stitch pattern is highly elastic, making it ideal for hats as it allows the fabric to stretch and conform to different head sizes while still returning to its original shape. The rib is maintained through the crown shaping as much as possible, keeping the fabric consistent from brim to top.
• k2tog (knit two together): A standard right-leaning decrease used in the crown shaping rounds.
• skp (slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over): A left-leaning decrease that mirrors k2tog, used in pairs during crown shaping to create balanced, symmetrical reductions.
• p2tog (purl two together): Used in the final rapid decrease round to quickly reduce the remaining stitch count before closing the crown.

Gauge

The stated gauge is 26 stitches and 32 rounds = 10 x 10 cm in rib pattern on size 3.5