Faded Beanie by Savannah Owens
Faded Beanie by Savannah Owens is a free hat pattern on Ravelry. Knit bottom up, it features a folded over brim with a slouchy beanie look. It is written with the intentions of using leftover yarn and fading it (i.e. tells you how/when to fade your yarn), and uses a US 2.5 (3 mm) for the brim and a US 4 (3.5 mm) for the body. With the exception of a provisional cast-on (which I highly recommend learning), it's a straightforward pattern for a beginner knitter.
My Shop Sample
Personally the brim on a US 4 is snug enough for me, so I did not go down in needle size. I also did not fade or alternate skeins, instead I used my Good Vibes Only fade set for my shop sample. Even though Color A twice as much yarn because of the folded brim, I still had plenty of yarn left over.
I like to divide my hat equally amongst my colors/section and match in length (I'm a matchy-matchy kind of knitter). With Color A, I knit 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), purled 1 round, knit 1.5 more inches, joined my brim, and finished the section by knitting .5 more inches. With colors B though E, I knit 2 inches or 18 rounds and followed the decrease rounds as written.
Even though I didn't follow the pattern exactly as written, I still use the "bones" of the pattern. I have knit multiple hats using this pattern so of course it deserves the title of best "classic/basic" beanie look for me. And of course if your a pom pom kind of person, it looks great on this hat too.
Links
Click here for a link to the pattern
Click here for a link to Good Vibes Only mini skein set.