485 Chrysanthemum Hat - Free Knitting Pattern for Adults in Valley Yarns Stockbridge

Pattern Summary: Valley Yarns #485 Chrysanthemum Hat by Kirsten Hipsky

The Chrysanthemum Hat is a free downloadable knitting pattern designed by Kirsten Hipsky for Valley Yarns. It produces a bright, stretchy adult beanie with a classic ribbed welt and a clean stockinette body, finished with a shaped crown. This is an excellent project for knitters at the beginner level who want to build confidence working in the round while producing a polished, wearable result.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is an adult-sized seamless beanie hat knitted entirely in the round from the brim upward. The completed hat measures 20 inches in circumference and 8 inches tall, making it a snug, well-proportioned fit suitable for most adult heads. The design is described as super simple yet visually appealing, combining a stretchy ribbed welt with a smooth stockinette body for a timeless everyday look.

Construction Technique

The hat is worked using a bottom-up, seamless, worked-in-the-round construction method. This means the knitter casts on at the brim and works upward toward the crown without any seaming required. Working in the round is ideal for hats because it produces a continuous tube of fabric, eliminates the need for purling back on wrong-side rows when creating stockinette, and results in a neater, more elastic finished fabric. The pattern begins with 88 stitches cast on and joined in the round on a 16-inch circular needle.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns Used

• 1x1 Ribbing (K1, P1): The ribbed welt is worked by alternating one knit stitch and one purl stitch across every round. This creates a highly elastic, form-fitting brim that grips the head comfortably. Ribbing rounds are worked in a repeating sequence throughout the body of the hat, not just at the cast-on edge, giving the Chrysanthemum Hat its distinctive textured rhythm.
• Stockinette Stitch: Worked in the round by knitting every stitch on every round, stockinette creates the smooth, V-stitch fabric that forms the main body of the hat between the ribbing sections. The gauge for this pattern is 4.5 stitches and 8 rows per inch in stockinette stitch.
• SSK (Slip, Slip, Knit) Decrease: Used during the crown shaping rounds, the SSK is a left-leaning decrease worked by slipping two stitches individually as if to knit, then inserting the left needle tip through both slipped stitches and knitting them together. Four decrease rounds are worked symmetrically using stitch markers placed every 22 stitches, creating a neat, evenly tapered crown.

Pattern Structure and Stitch Repeat

The body of the hat is built on a 10-round repeat: Rounds 1–4 are worked in 1x1 ribbing, and Rounds 5–10 are worked in stockinette. This repeat is worked a total of four times, or until the hat measures approximately 3 inches shorter than the desired finished length, at which point a final set of ribbing rounds is completed before crown shaping begins. This flexible construction allows knitters to easily adjust the length of the hat to suit personal preference.

Crown shaping is initiated by placing 4 stitch markers evenly around the hat, dividing the 88 stitches into four sections of 22 stitches each. A decrease round is then worked by performing an SSK at the beginning of each section and slipping each marker as it is reached. This is repeated to reduce the stitch count evenly until the crown is fully closed.

Materials

• Yarn: 2 skeins of Valley Yarns Stockbridge, a worsted weight yarn with a luxurious fiber blend of 50% Superfine Alpaca and 50% Wool. Each skein contains 50 grams and approximately 109 yards. The sample shown in the pattern is knitted in the colorway Kiwi. The alpaca content gives the yarn a soft, lightweight drape and natural warmth, while the wool adds structure, elasticity, and