23-02-2022

I’m going off-road here - working with hand-spun, not doing a “real” gauge-swatch (but monitoring carefully - and I know that the yarn has already been washed with hot water and dried…

I want a hat with total depth at 7.5” cuz I have the smallest head in the land… 8.25” circumference at brim works for me.

Since the pattern instructs that one must go from round 14 to the crown decreases immediately, any amount of depth I subtract from this hat will be contingent on 2 things: row gauge and the amount of depth I remove from other portions of the hat (aka the brim).

I don’t love fold over brims or slouchy hats. I’m going for a beanie with 2” of brim. But I don’t want to increase the height of the hat by doing 3.5” of brim.

I’m going to assume that I get gauge on a US5 (better to go smaller and I did need to use a US3 on the brim to get to a snug fit vs the instructed US4).

This pattern doesn’t come with a schematic but, by reading the instructions, at gauge, the hat body gets 2.5 cable repeats (of 14R) per 35R or 4”. Crown shaping happens over 25 rounds should comprise 2.86” of the overall hat depth.

So if, as determined, I want a hat that’s 7.5” deep…:
Brim = 2”
Top shaping = 2.85”
Body shaping = 2.65”

…I have only 2.65” to work with to do the body cable section and each 14R cable repeat takes 1.61” at gauge (though the pattern indicates that it takes “approximately 1.75”). To put this another way, I’ll begin the hat shaping on R5 and go to R 14, then repeat the 14R starting at R1. Following these 23R, I’ll begin the top shaping chart.

24-02-2022

Well, when you don’t swatch for gauge, you are taking a risk! This ended up being 1” taller than anticipated (8.5”). The good news is that I can fold up the 2” brim so I can get the beanie I desired. And, if I want to be a smidge slouchy, I’ve got that option too. Let’s see how this blocks from a gauge perspective.

In the end, the hat was 8” without a folded brim and 7” with a folded brim. I’d have preferred 7.5 in depth either way but I can work with this folded or unfolded so I’ll call it a win.

Note: Were I to make this again, I’d use a yarn with lower grist and more softness (though not with too much drape). My own handspun is not yet slender enough and I worked with Corriedale fibre - which is springy and adequately soft, but not particularly soft in the scheme of things.