Here you go:

Here is a link that might be useful: Ear Flap Hat

Thanks so much.I'm going to give it a try,and will let you know how it turns out.

Eliza Ann

I love this type of hat, but I am a true beginner. Has anyone seen a simplier pattern for this type of hat? I am looking to make it for a child 5/6 years old. Thank you very much...any information is greatly appreciated.

You could follow it and leave out the fair isle.

~ Kit

Try the one linked to below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy kids' earflap hat pattern

Thanks for the input. This hat would be more for a boy than a girl....any other suggestions/patterns out there? Again, my thanks!

Jane, if you find a hat pattern you like for a boy, it is easy to convert to an earflap hat.

Knit two triangles just big enough to cover a little boy's ear:

CO 1 stitch

Row 1 - knit in front and back of stitch (2 sts)
Row 2 - knit in front and back of both stitches (4 sts)
Row 3 - knit in front and back of first stitch, K2, knit in front and back of last stitch (6 stitches)

Continue on increasing in first and last stitch until your triangle is the right length. This is garter stitch. For stockinette, you would knit the stitches on the right side rows and purl the stitches on the wrong side rows. Imagine it attached to the brim of the hat, to judge the length.

You have some choises now:

You can leave the triangles on the needles (I use straights for each one, then don't bind off but transfer to a DPN for holding, I do break the yarn) and knitting them into the hat as you start the band:

Add together the total stitches on the needles and subtract them from the CO amount of the hat. Divide the remaining stitches into 3rds. Using a circular needle or DPN's cast one one third of those stitches. Transfer one triangle to your active needle being mindful of a "right side" if there is one. Cast on the remaining two thirds, then transfer the other triangle. Go ahead and knit (or whatever) your first round like normal. Continue the hat according to the pattern, weaving in the ends as you like.

Note, this would not work with a hat that has a brim intended to fold up like a cuff! In that case you would have to knit the cuff as far as you want, then knit the "one third of remaining stiches", then in a three needle feat of miraculous proportions, knit together one stitch from the flap needle along with a stitch from your regular needle and slide them both off (basically knitting them together) across the first flap. Knit across the other "two thirds" then repeat that three needle fiddly thing for the next triangle. Then continue around like nothing happened, pushing the flaps out of your way when you need to and weave in the ends as you like. Make sure the needle with the earflap is on the WRONG SIDE of the work here. For me, that is the INSIDE which basically means the most inconvenient and hard to work side ;).

Or you can bind off the triangles, knit your hat, and sew the triangles on afterwards. A hat with a cuff would do best this way, I think. Fold the cuff up where you want it, and attach the triangles at the correct point. They would be "under" the cuff when it is folded down.

I guess there is a third option as well. Pick up enough stitches along the edge of the finished hat for an ear flap. Knit (or purl) one row. Decrease on the first and last stitches, knitting or purling the middle stitches. When you get to 1 stitch or 2 stitches (depending on whether you picked up an even or odd number of stitches), bind off. Skip either one third or two thirds of rest of the circumference of the hat and pick up the same amount of stitches to make the second triangle.

No cutesy braids, either LOLOL!

The biggest thing to remember is that the stitches you are working with have to be the total MINUS those for the earflap, or your hat will "grow" when you don't want it to. So "one third of your stitches" is Total stitches - earflap stitches divided by 3. Conversely, "two thirds of your stitches" would be Total stitches minus earflap stitches divided by 3, times 2. Don't you love math?