Hat circumference?

[Kiirs]

I don't know if I should've posted this in the Design Den or not, but here goes. I am trying to make myself a nice cotton sunhat like the one in this thread:

 

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=48984.0

 

I began it once and frogged after seeing that it was way too small. I am a person who loves patterns and doesn't do well without some instruction, but I really love this hat and am trying. However, I was wondering if there was some formula or way to figure out how big around to make a hat compared to the size of a head? For instance, my head is about 24 inches around. So would it work if I made a swatch with my chosen stitch and counted how many it takes to make an inch?

 

I don't know if that's clear or not. Or if that would work in the round. I guess I'm just looking for some help on how to do this--there has to be a better way than spending hours making rounds and frogging till I happen on the right size. Thanks in advance for any help!

[kkms]

oh wow how could you not love that hat!

 

but sorry no words of advise. i just kinda fit it to my head as i go.

 

good luck! can't wait to see your finished project!

[gaylefrancisdesigns]

If you can figure out your stitches per inch you can find the number of stitches needed for your hat. For example: if you have four stitches per inch, you would multiply that by your head circumference [24], and get 96. 96/4 is 24, so that should give you a nice snug hat.

 

I'd also recommend using yarn with a little stretch or using some half-double crochet or double-crochet to give the hat some ease.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Gayle

[darski]

The trick to getting hats like this to fit is to do as many rows of increase as necessary to get a comfortable fit.

 

Gayle is correct that getting your gauge will tell you how many stitches you need.

 

the basic formula for forming a circle is that you add the same number of stitches as you started with...On Every Round and it is really easy to figure it out

 

Lets say that you begin with 10 hdc in a ring

Row 2: 2 hdc in every hdc (20)

Row 3: hdc in 1, 2 hdc in next(30)

Row 4: hdc in 2, 2 hdc in next (40)

row 5: hdc in 3, 2hdc in next... you see the method behind the madness now?

 

so lets assume that Gayle's gauge test is accurate and you need 96 stitches to fit your head size. You would want to be increasing for 9 more rows so that you would have 100 stitches. that would give you a bit of ease.

 

These hats would be a real neat way to expand your pattern swatches. I'm trying to imagine trying all the fave stitches I see and don't use for a baby blanket.

 

I might just look up some of that tubing myself. I really like this style in a hat. <<my bad>> I am on a WIP diet so I can't make any nice new stuff...