Do I have a small head?

[Ilah]

I have made three hats so far for myself. The first two were a little loose even though I checked the gauge before I started. The third one I had to partially undo and modify becuase it was too loose. It was a skullcap style so I knew it should fit reasonably tight. I am thinking that perhaps I just have a small head and I would need to adjust any hat pattern for adults. But it could be that I just did something wrong. How do I measure my head size and what is concidered the standard size for an adult hat? Do I measure from my forhead straight back or along where I think the outer edges of the hat would be? Usually I wear my hats going from my forhead in front and slanting down to the top of my neck in back. I think that is how most styles are meant to be worn.

 

What do people do for hats for teens who have a size larger than kids, but smaller than adults? Is there an inbetween size? I don't think I would take a child sized hat.

[jenhen]

This is what I do: I start at the top, crochet a flat circle, increasing until it is about 5 1/2 inches in diameter. Then I stop increasing and just go around until the hat is as long as I want it. I have found with patterns that sometimes they are too big. If I make a child's hat I usually make the circle 4 1/2 inches.

[crochet smartcat]

Check out this post for typical head sizes. To measure your head, wrap a strip of paper or tape measure around your head about 1" above your ears, across your forehead, keeping it as level as possible. This is the measurement that most hat makers use when referring to fit size.

[Ilah]

I measured my head and it was 21 1/4 inches, so according to the chart I am at the low end of adult woman (21-23 1/2 inches). Children's hats (3 and older) were listed as 20-22 inches, so perhaps I should try children's patterns. I was suprised there was so little difference between a child's head and an adult head.

 

I will also try the suggestion with just doing a circle out to a certain size, as soon as I experiment and find the right sized circle for me. Hats with a more complicated pattern might be trickier, but I think I could modify them. On the plus side, it should take me less yarn to make a hat.