How to Knit a Hat

In this video, we'll show you how to knit a hat using a fixed circular needle and bulky weight yarn.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• knit
• knitting
• hat
• how
• tutorial
• knitpicks
• picks
• yarn
• howto
• harmony
• nickelplated
• zephyr
• needles
• hats
• beginner
• wool
• pix
• piks
• circular
• instructions

[lillolly725]

Hi, this is a great video! I'm a relatively new knitter and this is my first time using circular needles. I bought size 8 needles with a length of 29 inches. I now realize they may be too long for a hat. Do you know if this pattern would work for the needles I bought?

[knitpicks]

@lillolly725 Generally, hats use 16" needles or a needle circumference that is less than the circumference of the hat. That way, the needle circumference fits inside the hat circumference and your stitches won't get stretches out. Alternately, you can use a method called Magic Loop with your 29" needle to complete the hat. We have videos on the Knit Picks channel that go over the magic loop method in detail.

[SuperSeaCucumber]

i knit a hat for a friend for christmas but it turned out extremely misshapen and large....i was using 4 dpns and i cast on about 150 stitches...also, i kept stretching the stitches while trying to knit them. would knitting with circular needles with fewer stitches give me a better result? (it was my first time knitting a hat so i don't really know what i'm doing)

[knitpicks]

@SuperSeaCucumber What weight yarn were you using? 150 stitches seems like it might be too many, especially if you were using dk or worsted yarn. An easy way to double check how many stitches you need is to figure out the gauge of your yarn or the stitches per inch. Take the number of stitches per inch and multiply that with the circumference in inches. Ex: if you have 5 stitches per inch, and you want an 18" circumference, you would need 90 stitches (5*18=90). Hope that helps!

[UrbanBreK1]

If I knit this on 20 inch circular needles will it come out funky?

[knitpicks]

@UrbanBreK1 Unless you are working the hat in the magic loop method, your stitches will most likely get very stretched out using the 20" needle.

[knitpicks]

@teriakraml You join your knitting at the beginning of your first row. Make sure that your working yarn is coming from your right hand needle, not the left, in order for the sides to join together.

[teriakraml]

How does it connect? Wouldn't it just be row after row? What do you do to make it a circle

[knitpicks]

@LisaElizebethAshley Hi, one inch is just about 2.5 cm (4 inches = 10 centimeters). If your ball band doesn't say what gauge is yarn knits up at or if you lost the label, you can knit a swatch and then measure how many stitches are in 1 inch or 2.5 cm. For cm, take the circumference you want your hat to be, say 45 cm and divide that by 2.5 cm, which would be 18. Multiply the number you get by your stitches per 2.5 cm to get your number of stitches to cast on. (18*5=90 sts)

[LisaElizebethAshley]

I really want to knit a hat too. But I live in Holland and we don't use inches, we use centimeters and meters. They don't put a number of stitches per decameter (10 centimeters) either, or anything like that, don't you have an other calculation for me?

[monkylicious]

@kayslove1 you can use double pointed needles. i think they are easier