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It’s Time To Start Your BiCrafty Bootcamp First Knit Hat! (Knitting Lessons for Crocheters, Lesson 11)

We just wrapped up a full month of working on our first knit cowl. (See our Month Two BiCrafty Bootcamp Thoughts here!) How is everyone feeling?! You’re doing an awesome job. Now we’re ready to begin our next multi-week project: our first knit hat in the round.

First Knit Hat in the Round

How to Knit a Hat That Matches Your First Knit Cowl

We’re going to knit a hat that complements your first knit cowl. However, if you wanted to make a more matchy-matchy set, then you could also start your first knit hat right now.

Basically, here is what you do. You’d just need to calculate your gauge (how many stitches per inch is more important than rows per inch in this case).

Once you know how many stitches per inch you get, calculate a number closest to 20″ [51 cm] for average adult or 22″ [56 cm] for large adult. The biggest thing to remember is that your cast on number should be a multiple of both four and five. If you can only get one or the other, in the sections where the multiple changes you can either increase or decrease to get to the number you need.

Once you’ve cast on a good number of stitches, follow the stitch patterns for the knit cowl to start your hat. Because you don’t want your hat too long or too slouchy (is there such a thing?), I recommend only working each section util they measure about 1″ or 1.5″ [2.5 or 3.8 cm].

As a reminder those lessons were:

So you would basically create a knit hat that begins with 1×1 ribbing, continues with seed stitch, etc. Then you would wrap up with some crown shaping. And that is where things get a bit different.

For the crown, I think I would go back to seed stitch and work decreases back down to as few stitches as possible and finish off the hat.

Matchy-Matchy BiCrafty Community Hat Pattern

Let me make this easy for you and give you numbers and a specific decrease.

MATERIALS

Yarn: Red Heart Chic Sheep by Marly Bird™ [Art. R170 100% Merino Wool available 3.5 oz (100 g),186 yd (170 m) balls]

Needles: 4.5mm [US 7] and 5mm [US 8] 16″ (40.5 cm); Set of 5 double pointed needles 5mm [US 8]

SPONSOR SHOUTOUT: JIMMY BEANS WOOL

Of course, you can use any brand of knitting needles that you want. This month, we’re going to showcase Jimmy Beans Wool knitting needles. We’ll start off working with the brand’s SmartStix Interchangeables. We’re excited to let you know what we think.

MEASUREMENTS

Gauge: 18 sts = 4″ (10 cm) in Seed Stitch pattern with larger needles, after blocking. CHECK YOUR GAUGE. Use any size needles to obtain the gauge

One size to fit average Adult.

NOTIONS

Stitch Marker (make your own), Tapestry needle to bury the ends (learn how here)

SPECIAL STITCHES / ABBREVIATIONS

Make 1 (inc): Insert lhn under horizontal strand between st just worked and next st, from the front to the back, knit through the back loop (1 st increased).  (video help)

NOTES 

I recommend adding a lifeline to your project at the pattern changes. Just to make sure you have a point to rip back to if something goes wrong. (video help)

PATTERN

Brim

With smaller needle, cast on 90 sts. Place marker on right hand needle to indicate the start of round, join round being careful to not twist cast on edge. 

Round 1: Knit

Rounds 2-7: *K1, p1; repeat from * around. 

Round 8: *(k1, p1) 4 times, make 1; repeat from * 10 times total, k1, p1 to end — 100 sts. 

Body

Change to larger needles.

Follow along with the instructions for each of these sections BUT make each section only measure about 1″ or 1.5″ [2.5 or 3.8 cm] each.

Crown

Shape crown as follows, changing to double-pointed needles when work no longer fits comfortably on circular needle.

Round 1: *(p1, k1) 4 times, p2tog, k2tog, (p1, k1) 4 times; repeat from * 4 times more – 90 sts.

Rounds 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16: Continue in established seed stitch pattern

Round 3: *(p1, k1) 3 times, p1, k2tog, p2tog, k1, (p1, k1) 3 times; repeat from * 4 times more – 80 sts.

Round 5: *(p1, k1) 3 times, p2tog, k2tog, (p1, k1) 3 times; repeat from * 4 times more – 70 sts.

Round 7: *(p1, k1) 2 times, p1, k2tog, p2tog, k1, (p1, k1) 2 times; repeat from * 4 times more – 60 sts.

Round 9: *(p1, k1) 2 times, p2tog, k2tog, (p1, k1) 2 times; repeat from * 4 times more – 50 sts.

Round 11: *p1, k1, p1, k2tog, p2tog, k1, p1, k1; repeat from * 4 times more – 40 sts.

Round 13: *p1, k1, p2tog, k2tog, p1, k1; repeat from * 4 times more – 30 sts.

Round 15: *p1, k2tog, p2tog, k1; repeat from * 4 times more – 20 sts.

Round 17: *p2tog, k2tog; repeat from * around – 10 sts.

Finishing

Cut yarn leaving at least 6” (15.24 cm) of tail and use yarn needle to thread tail through each remaining st knitwise. Pull tail tight to close top (like a drawstring). Weave tail in on wrong side of hat to secure.


What’s Different With the First Knit Hat vs Knit Cowl

Here are the things that we’ll be doing a little bit differently with our first knit hat:

  • We’re working with both circulars and DPNs. We’ll start the knit hat form the bottom up working on circular needles. Then we’re going to switch to DPNs when we get closer to the top of the hat. Learning to knit on DPNs is going to be the biggest new lesson in Month 3 of BiCrafty Bootcamp.
  • We’ll work with needles in different sizes. Therefore you’ll learn how to move from a Size 7 to a Size 8 in the same project.
  • We’re learning shaping. We’ll start at the bottom of the hat. Then, in order to get that beautiful hat shape, we’ll learn decreasing towards the top of the hat. This is Month 3’s other big skill.

Materials for First Knit Hat in the Round

As aforementioned, we’ll be using multiple knitting needles in this project. Therefore, you’ll want to get:

  • Size 7 16″ circular needles
  • Size 8 16″ circular needles
  • Size 8 DPNs

When you purchase your DPNs, try to find a set of five. They come in sets of four or five, depending on the brand. If you can only find sets of four, then you should get a second set in each size. Alternatively, some companies sell the extra ones individually.

We’re going to continue working with worsted weight yarn for this project. You might want to use the same yarn that you did for your cowl. Ideally, you’ll have several colors of yarn. That’s because we’re going to practice some colorwork techniques on this first knit hat. However, we’ll have options, so if you’re limited to a single color, it’s okay.

Crocheter’s Edge

Crocheters Tips to Learn Knitting

As a crocheter, you’re going to have an edge up on other newbie knitters because you’ll understand the basic concept of decreasing to shape a hat. For example, you know how to stitch two together in crochet to begin decreasing. More importantly, you know WHY you’re doing that. As a result, learning decreasing for your first knit hat should make a lot of sense.

Knitters Tips for Crocheters

knitters tip for crocheters

The biggest tip from the knitters right now is not to be scared of those DPNs. Hopefully you’ve watched all of the BiCrafty Bootcamp videos. If so, then a few weeks ago you saw us showing what DPNs are and how to use them. Although you’re working with four or five needles, you’re actually only using two at a time. You already know how to do this! So don’t get scared; this is going to be easier to learn than you think!

BiCrafty Community Complementary Hat Pattern

MATERIALS

Yarn: Red Heart Chic Sheep by Marly Bird™ [Art. R170 100% Merino Wool available 3.5 oz (100 g),186 yd (170 m) balls]

Needles: 4.5mm [US 7] and 5mm [US 8] 16″ (40.5 cm); Set of 5 double pointed needles 5mm [US 8]

MEASUREMENTS

Gauge: 18 sts = 4″ (10 cm) in Seed Stitch pattern with larger needles, after blocking. CHECK YOUR GAUGE. Use any size needles to obtain the gauge

One size to fit average Adult.

NOTIONS

Stitch Marker (make your own), Tapestry needle to bury the ends (learn how here)

PATTERN

Brim

With smaller needle, cast on 90 sts. Place marker on right hand needle to indicate the start of round, join round being careful to not twist cast on edge. 

Round 1: Knit

Rounds 2-7: *K1, p1; repeat from * around. 

Round 8: *(k1, p1) 4 times, make 1; repeat from * 10 times total, k1, p1 to end — 100 sts. 

Body

Change to larger needles.

Knit 1 round.

Over the next few weeks we will be adding different stitch patterns in this section for you to add to your hat.

Additional Videos and Patterns to Try

At this stage of BiCrafty Bootcamp, you might want to check out these videos:

And these patterns:

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Marly Bird

The One and Only, Marly

Marly is a knitwear and crochet designer (and yarn addict) that is here to help you learn how to knit and crochet in a way that's fun and approachable.

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