The ribbing is lovely and soft but very slow to make. You really need a pointy headed hook for the slip stitches. For the star stitches, a hook without an easy-grip handle is best, because the stitches will have more room to spread on the hook.

After making a headband to fit (which was around the 18” specified in the pattern) I fitted something like 84 sc into the side of the band. I also used a size 6mm hook, because I found that otherwise I had nice loose ribbing but the hat itself was much snugger and it didn’t feel right.

I’m not sure what the repeat is but I think it’s fairly easy to fudge the first round of star stitches if the number of sc isn’t quite right.

At the end of each round, make sure that the last leg of the last star stitch goes into the same stitch as the first leg of the first star stitch. A couple of times I went into the joining sl st by mistake and it doesn’t look right. Also, if you’re doing colour work, don’t let the floats be loose. Again, it doesn’t look good.

And it feels very loose now I’m wearing it. I can either wear it with the brim turned up or donate it to my husband. Next time I’ll make the ribbing band shorter and make the rest of the hat smaller too in proportion.