This hat came together in an inspired moment of post-pregnancy craftiness. After spying some super-cute animal hats in a local baby shop I thought, Heck, I can do that! Armed with black, white and orange yarn and a simple toque knitting pattern, I set down to work. It was a bit of trial and error and lots of starting over as I re-jigged the diameter of the hat for my boy’s head, the shape of the penguin body (the white part) and the wings and beak (I think I ended up using a loose interpretation of the I-cord technique). The end result was waaaay sweeter than I expected.

Click here for a larger image of the penguin hat.

I wouldn’t really call myself a knitter—I don’t have a ton of technique or skill—but I love knitting hats. They come together quickly and don’t use a lot of material so I can justify splurging on the softest, most luxurious wool or yarn. And with a basic toque pattern you can personalize it with stripes, colours or crazy buttons. I usually start with this super simple hat calculator and then let my knitting fingers go wild from there!

Check here for a great I-cord tutorial.

For more knitting inspiration, check out our crafts page.