Pages: 295-298.

Pattern description from Knitting for Dummies: “The beauty of this hat is that you don’t have to know how many inches around you want it to be before you start to knit. Start at the top with an inch or so for 4-stitch I-cord (see Chapter 6) and then increase at regular intervals (8 intervals in the round) until the circumference of what you’re knitting fits around your head. (Picture a pie cut into 8 pieces - the increases fall along the lines of the wedges. In this case, the pie wedges curve around spiral-like because you’ll be increasing on only one side of the wedge.) Then stop increasing and continue to knit round and round for the length you desire from crown to edge. In this version of the hat, you knit in stockinette stitch to the very edge and bind off. The last inch or so rolls up for a brim.”

Dimensions: This hat measures 17.75 (19, 20.75, 22.5) inches around and 7 (8, 10, 11.5) inches from crown tip to brim. The final inch of stitches rolls up. The hat will fit a baby, child, woman, or man, respectively.

Materials: Two 3.5 oz. (50g) skeins (each approximately 99 yards) of Classic Elite Maya 50% lama/50%wool; one set of 5 size 8 double-pointed needles (I strongly recommend wooden needles); one size 8 circular needle, 16 inches; one size 7 circular needle, 16 inches (optional). (When you make a rolled hem, your roll will be a little neater and tighter if you work it on a smaller needle.)

Note about Gauge: “For this project, you can get by with working a gauge swatch back & forth on your needle. A hat is small enough and the fit is flexible enough, that if your gauge is off a little, you’ll still have a great hat.”

Technical Stuff: “If you’re knitting a hat as a gift and you don’t know the circumference of the recipient’s head, you can use the following numbers and you’ll probably be close tot he target. In general, hats measure anywhere from 18 inches for a baby, 21 inches for a child, to 22 inches for a woman, to 23.5 inches for a man. From crown to brim, count on 7 inches for a baby hat and 9 to 11 inches for an adult hat.”

Notes from Knitting for Dummies:

• “You can work the entire hat on double-pointed needles if you like. If so, choose 8-inch needles. If you plan to switch to a 16-inch needle when you have enough stitches to go around, you can use shorter double-points at the start.”
• “When the pattern tells you to increase, work the next stitch by knitting into the front and then the back of it. See Chapter 7 for more on knitting into the fronts and backs of stitches.”