Budget Knitting! Make a Sidewinder Beanie with Thick & Quick Yarn and Cheap Pom Poms

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I wrote a post a couple of months ago talking about how the Sidewinder Beanie makes an amazing last-minute knitted gift. My only complaint was that the Malabrigo yarn is so expensive, but I’ve attempted to knit this with less expensive yarn and never liked the result… until now!

I discovered a collection of gorgeous shifting colorways in Wool Ease Thick & Quick and they look amazing with the super-bulky yarn version of this hat pattern. Observe:

These two beanies are knitted with Eden and Stormfront. I’d also recommend Abalone, Sequoia, Marsh, and Bluegrass. My unsuccessful attempts to knit this with plied yarn were all done in solid colors, but these mottled color combos camouflage the texture of the plied yarn.

The best part is that Thick & Quick is about $8 a ball vs. around $24 for a skein of Malabrigo Rasta. You can also buy it at almost any big box craft store or online at larger retailers that are more likely to offer free shipping. I got mine at Crochet.com where they have a $45 free shipping threshold and I never struggle to hit that number! 😂 You can also find the Thick & Quick yarn on Amazon as single balls or in 3-packs. The singles tend to be priced slightly higher than at other places, but if you have a Prime, free one-day shipping evens it all out, so you’re good.

Speaking of affordable knitting materials and Amazon, that’s also where I buy my faux fur pompoms for knitted hats. You can get them in a zillion-pack for super cheap, but they often arrive all squished and people love to give them bad reviews for that. But here’s the trick: all you have to do is hit them with a hot blowdryer for a couple of minutes and they puff out beautifully!!

I bought this multi-pack of 4” inch poms and I’m really happy with the quality, post-blowdry. These pom poms come with an elastic loop to attach them to your knitting. If you don’t anticipate that the hat will ever be washed, just go ahead and sew that elastic loop right on the hat. If you’d like to make the pom pom removable to facilitate washing the hat, or just for versatility, you can attach them to a button sewn inside the hat. Here is a video demoing that technique, plus a before & after demo of the blowdryer magic:

With the button method, it’s super easy to attach/detach the pom poms using a crochet hook. (You can get away with using a fork, but it’s a little fiddly.) If you anticipate that this may be a problem, I’d suggest limiting your search to pom poms that attach with a snap instead of a loop, like these.

Now that you know how to make a Sidewinder Beanie on the cheap, what are you going to do with all of them?!? I’m gifting these two to some friends and I plan to knit some more to donate to Knit the Rainbow next Fall.

yarn details

Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick in Eden and Stormfront
80% Acrylic, 20% Wool
170 g/ 106 yd skein
Purchased in January 2024

project details

pattern: “Sidewinder Beanie” by Aspen Leaf Knits (purchase on etsy or via Ravelry)
size knit: Super Bulky Size
needles: US size 13 (9 mm) and 15 (10 mm) – both 47” fixed circulars for magic loop (Don’t recommend 47” circs! The cable was pretty unmanageable, but that’s what I had and I didn’t want to buy new needles. I wish I’d invested in 16” circulars in these sizes – magic loop was a bit of a pain with the crossed stitches in this pattern.)
yarn used: Eden: 58.4 yards; Stormfront: 75.2 yards (I spaced out and knitted extra rows on the brim of that one, so it used more yarn)
duration: February 2024

notes

• The pattern offers two options for when you can start decreases, which impacts the length of the hat. On these two I started decreases after round 13 and I like the fit.