One of my favorite daily activities when living abroad in Germany was the amount of time I was outside getting from one place to the next. I would walk, ride a bike, rollerblade, or take a skateboard most days of the year. But then, winter came. I was born and raised in New Mexico, and while it did get cold there, I was not prepared with winter garments suitable for Germany. One of my first winter purchases was an olive green beanie in a super chunky weight yarn. The store-bought beanie was simple in structure – stockinette all the way from brim to crown. I loved it. I wore it for many years. Flash forward about fifteen years to a time I had started exploring to knit my own beanie patterns. Up until this chunky beanie, I had been constructing beanies mostly with a DK or worsted weight yarn, and a simple structure with an inch of ribbing and the rest done in stockinette stitch with a fun slouch. But, a very cold Oklahoma winter arrived and I was reminded about that olive green beanie. I wanted to explore a little bit more with textures, so this design came about. Flash forward about seven more years and I received a message on Instagram from a friend with a young rad daughter: “Do you have a beanie design with a hole up top for little girls’ ponytails…asking for a friend…” I went to my beanie box and found my chunky beanie pattern with a pom and thought…I could remove the pom, take out a few of the crown rounds, bind off, and – viola – a ponytail beanie! “Looks great! I think she’ll love it.”
Now, I’m finally publishing my pattern after it’s been sitting in my notes for more than five years.

The construction of this beanie is knit in the round, starting with garter stitch, then in a 3x2 ribbing the rest of the beanie. The pattern has two options for you (with or without a “hole up top for ponytails”).