I don’t have anything against purling, but this pattern is based on a project I use to teach my Absolute Beginner knitting students. In one fell swoop, you can avoid purling and learn to cast on, knit back and forth, knit in the round, bind off, and sew a seam. I love hats for first knitting projects because they are small, relatively easy, and giftable. If the three-needle bind off proves to be too difficult for a first-time knitter, you could always bind off in any way you prefer and sew the seam across the top of the hat. For a more experienced knitter, this hat is the perfect “mindless” knitting.

Knitting needles:
You should use whatever style of needles you prefer for working in the round, for a circumference two inches smaller than the desired final hat, in the size that produces a gauge you like. I used 12-inch, size 8 (5.0 mm) circular needles.

Notions:
One stitch marker
Yarn needle
A set of double-pointed needles that are the same size as your working needles for the bind off
Ruler
Calculator or scratch paper