Terracotta Polka Brioche Bonnet Free Pattern: Two-Color Knit Baby Hat

Introduction

Welcome to the Terracotta Polka Brioche Bonnet — a tiny, cozy hat that looks far more complicated than it actually is. This sweet little bonnet is perfect for a brand-new knitter who has mastered knit and purl stitches and wants to try something a little magical. The finished bonnet is soft, squishy, and wonderfully textured: a warm terracotta ground with plump mustard polka dots that pop right off the surface, finished with a neat crochet edge and two long garter-stitch ties that tie in a bow under the chin. It measures about 7 inches deep and 6.5 inches across the face opening, sized for a 0–6 month baby. Best of all, it is knit flat, side to side, so there is no knitting in the round and no complicated shaping — just one rectangle, a few short rows, and a simple seam.

Materials Needed

• Yarn: Worsted weight (CYC #4) cotton yarn, approx. 120 yd / 110 m total — 80 yd / 73 m terracotta (Color A) and 40 yd / 37 m mustard (Color B).
• Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) straight or circular needles, plus a spare US 6 (4.0 mm) needle for the three-needle bind-off.
• Crochet hook: US 6 (4.0 mm) hook (or a hook one size smaller than your needles) for the single crochet edge around the face opening.
• Stitch markers: At least 4, to mark polka-dot positions and short-row turning points.
• Tapestry needle: A blunt-tipped needle with a large eye for seaming and weaving in ends.
• Scissors: Any sharp pair for cutting yarn.
• Finished size: 0–6 months. Bonnet depth (front brim to back point) approx. 7 in / 18 cm; width across the face opening approx. 6.5 in / 16.5 cm; each chin tie approx. 9 in / 23 cm.

Abbreviations and Beginner Glossary

• st / sts — stitch / stitches. One loop on your needle is one stitch.
• k — knit. Insert the right needle into the front of the stitch from left to right, wrap yarn around, pull a loop through, and slide the old stitch off.
• p — purl. Insert the right needle into the front of the stitch from right to left, wrap yarn around the front, pull a loop through, and slide the old stitch off.
• sl1yo — slip 1 stitch, then yarnover. Slide the next stitch from the left needle to the right needle without working it (purlwise, meaning as if to purl), then bring the working yarn over the right needle to create a yarnover (an extra loop of yarn).
• brk — brioche knit. Knit the next stitch together with its yarnover as if they were one stitch.
• brp — brioche purl. Purl the next stitch together with its yarnover as if they were one stitch.
• RS / WS — right side / wrong side. The right side is the front of the fabric that everyone sees; the wrong side is the back.
• wrap and turn — a short-row technique. Work the stated number of stitches, then slip the next stitch to the right needle, bring the yarn around it to the front and back again (this "wraps" the stitch), slip it back to the left needle, and turn your work to go the other way.
• pick up the wraps — when you come back to a wrapped stitch, lift the wrap onto your left needle and knit or purl it together with its stitch so no hole appears.
• sc — single crochet. Insert the hook into the stitch, pull up a loop (2 loops on hook), yarn over, pull through both loops (1 loop remains).
• garter stitch — knitting every row. It makes a flat, ridged, non-curling fabric.
• bind off — the way to finish your knitting so stitches do not unravel. Knit two stitches, then lift the first over the second; repeat across.
• mattress stitch — a seaming method that joins two edges invisibly by passing the needle back and forth under the horizontal bars between stitches.

Gauge

16 sts and 24 rows = 4 in / 10 cm in two-color brioche stitch, lightly blocked.

Gauge matters because it tells you whether your bonnet will come out the size written here. If your stitches are bigger than the gauge, the bonnet will be too large; if smaller, too small. To make a swatch, cast on about 29 stitches and work the pattern rows below for about 4 inches, then measure a 4-inch square in the middle of the fabric. If you have more stitches than 16, go up a needle size; if fewer, go down. Wash and gently block the swatch before measuring, because cotton relaxes when wet.

Beginner Tips Before You Start

• Use stitch markers for the dots. Place a marker at each polka-dot stitch position before you begin a dot row so you never lose your place.
• Do not pull the yarn too tight. Brioche yarnovers need breathing room. Keep your tension relaxed, especially when slipping stitches.
• Always slip purlwise. Unless the pattern says otherwise, slip every stitch as if to purl, with the yarn held to the wrong side of the work.
• Count your stitches at the end of every row. You should always have 29 stitches. If you have more, you probably forgot to work a yarnover together with its stitch.
• Keep the two colors from tangling. Set the ball you are not using to one side and pick it up only when the row tells you to.
• Work the selvedge stitches. The first and last stitch of every row are plain knits in that row's working color — they make seaming much easier later.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Set-Up

With Color A (terracotta), cast on 29 stitches using the long-tail method. Do not join; you are working flat (back and forth in rows).

Set-up row (A): K1, *sl1yo, k1; repeat from * to end. (29 sts — 14 slipped stitches with yarnovers, 15 knit stitches)

Body: Two-Color Brioche Polka-Dot Panel

Row 1 (B, right side): With B, k1, *brk, sl1yo; repeat from * to last 2 sts, brk, k1. (29 sts)

Row 2 (A, wrong side): With A, k1, *brp, sl1yo; repeat from * to last 2 sts, brp, k1. (29 sts)

Row 3 (B, right side): With B, k1, *sl1yo, brk; repeat from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1. (29 sts)

Row 4 (A, wrong side): With A, k1, *sl1yo, brp; repeat from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1. (29 sts)

These 4 rows form the two-color brioche polka-dot pattern. The B stitches that appear as brk on right-side rows are the mustard dots. Stagger the dots by moving each dot column 4 stitches to the right on each dot row.

Repeat Rows 1–4 a total of 9 times (36 rows total). Place the mustard dots as follows:

• Dot rows 1, 9, 17, 25, 33: work B brk at stitches 5, 13, 21, and 29 (counted from the right edge).
• Dot rows 5, 13, 21, 29: work B brk at stitches 9, 17, and 25.

All other brioche stitches are worked in A. Keep the first and last stitch of every row as a knit selvedge in that row's working color. Work until the panel measures approx. 13 in / 33 cm from the cast-on edge, ending after a wrong-side row (Row 4 of the repeat). Do not bind off; leave the stitches on a spare needle.

Crown Curve: Short Rows

These short rows curve the panel so it hugs the back of the head.

Short row 1 (B, right side): Work 21 sts in pattern, wrap next stitch, turn. (21 sts worked)

Short row 2 (A, wrong side): Work 21 sts in pattern, wrap next stitch, turn. (21 sts worked)

Short row 3 (B, right side): Work 17 sts, wrap next stitch, turn. (17 sts worked)

Short row 4 (A, wrong side): Work 17 sts, wrap next stitch, turn. (17 sts worked)

Short row 5 (B, right side): Work 13 sts, wrap next stitch, turn. (13 sts worked)

Short row 6 (A, wrong side): Work 13 sts, wrap next stitch, turn. (13 sts worked)

Next 4 rows: Resume working across all 29 stitches in pattern, picking up the wraps as you come to them. (29 sts)

Final row: Bind off all 29 stitches loosely in pattern.

Assembly

See the Assembly and Finishing section below for full seaming, edging, and tie instructions.

Assembly and Finishing

Step 1 — Fold and seam the tube. Fold the panel in half with right sides together so the cast-on edge meets the bound-off edge. Thread your tapestry needle with Color A and sew the two short ends together using mattress stitch: pass the needle under the horizontal bar between the first two stitches on one edge, then under the matching bar on the other edge, and pull gently. Work all the way across. This forms a tube, which becomes the bonnet's curved crown.

Step 2 — Gather the back point. Turn the tube right side out. Thread a tapestry needle with a long length of Color A and run a gathering thread through the stitches along one long open edge. Pull the thread tight to close the back point of the bonnet, then secure with a few small stitches and knot. This gathered edge forms the back of the head.

Step 3 — Neaten the face opening. The remaining long open edge is the face opening. With your crochet hook and Color A, work one round of single crochet evenly around this opening to neaten it, then turn. Fasten off and weave in the end.

Step 4 — Make the chin ties. With Color A and the right side facing, pick up and knit 3 stitches at the lower corner of the face opening. Work in garter stitch (knit every row) for approx. 9 in / 23 cm. Bind off. Repeat at the opposite corner for the second tie.

Step 5 — Weave in ends. Thread each yarn tail onto the tapestry needle and weave it back and forth through the wrong side of the fabric for about 2 inches, then trim close to the fabric.

Step 6 — Block. Soak the bonnet briefly in cool water, squeeze gently in a towel (do not wring), and lay it flat to the measurements: depth 7 in / 18 cm, face-opening width 6.5 in / 16.5 cm. Do not press the brioche flat — steam gently only, to preserve the polka-dot texture. Let it dry completely before tying the bow under the chin.

Pro Tips and Variations

• Change the colors. Swap terracotta and mustard for any two contrasting worsted cottons — cream and sage, navy and blush, or grey and lemon all look lovely with the same dot grid.
• Adjust the size. For a larger bonnet, add pattern repeats to lengthen the panel (each 4-row repeat adds about ⅔ in / 1.7 cm of depth), and cast on 4 more stitches per size step to widen the face opening.
• Substitute the yarn. Any worsted weight (CYC #4) yarn works — cotton gives a crisp matte look, while a soft acrylic or cotton-blend gives a squishier, stretchier bonnet. Always swatch first, since gauge can change with fiber.
• Skip the dots for a simpler first project. Work every brioche stitch in Color A for a solid terracotta bonnet, then add a single row of mustard single crochet around the face opening for a pop of color.