I need suggestions for a SIMPLE Adult Knit Hat

[SmoothFox]

Once I finish this Illusion Scarf I'm doing I want desperately to attempt a knit hat for an adult.

 

Here's the problem. I only know the knit and purl stitch. I have one 2 ended needle with like a plastic skinny piece between the two needles. It looks like a size 10 but I no longer have the package and it doesn't say what number it is on the needle itself. It is a silver looking need.

 

Anyway, the one time I tried to do a hat, it said to CO so many of the stitches and then to join. I did the nbr it wanted me to CO but it was not enough to reach the other end of the needle and plus I have no idea how to "join" even if it did.

 

I also (not sure what you call them) and have no idea how to work with these small pointy super thin needles I bought. There were, I think 4 in a package. Someone told me I needed them for a hat. They are small skinny red pointy on both ends.

 

I wanted to make a hat that was multiple colors and super easy for my first hat. Like a row of one color, then a row of another color. Maybe it should be a flat hat for my first hat that I have to sew together up the sides. Heck I don't know. I am frustrated about the whole thing.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Everytime I go to a website and find a pattern I think I can do, their patterns make no sense to me. They tell me to decrease, well I don't know what that means. They tell me to do things I'm not yet familiar with. I am brand spanking new to knitting.

 

Donna

[Lady_of_Roses]

Here's where I got the pattern for the first hat I've knit. I did it in the round, but it has instructions for either in the round or flat on it. This pattern does very briefly describe how to do a simple decrease.

 

I would suggest doing it flat and to do stripes just change your yarn color like in crochet. If you don't want to mess with various yarn ends, maybe get a variegated, ombre, or self-striping yarn. You don't have to use double-pointed needles unless you're going to work in the round and the item is too small to fit on circulars. They can be a bit awkward at first, but aren't bad once you get the hang of them.

 

I'd recommend looking for some instructions on how to increase and decrease as you can't do much of anything other than squares and rectangles otherwise. I'd bet places like YouTube would even have videos to show it.

 

Good luck and have fun!!

[Knit Happens]

here is a generic ribbed cap that is quickly worked up:

(less than) 1 skein of worsted weight acrylic yarn, your brand/color choice

Needles: U.S. size 8 or 9

Gauge: since hat is very stretchy either sized needles will work and not affect the fit much.

 

Cast on 70 stitches

Row 1: K3, P1, repeat across, ending in K2.

Row 2: P2, *k1, P3*, repeat across from *to*.

Repeat rows 1 - 2 and work as established in rib pattern until piece measures 7 inches long.

At 7 inches, decrease as follows:

Row 1: k2tog across. Row 2: Purl across.

Row 3-5: Repeat rows 1 & 2, ending in a decrease row. DO NOT CAST OFF.

Leaving a 12 inch tail, cut yarn. Thread the tail through a darning needle. Slip the darning needle through the stitches on the knitting needle as you remove the knitting needle. Pull the tail tightly and secure the tightened opening with a whipstitch. Using the remaining length of tail, continue down the back of the hat and whipstitch the seams together until finished. Weave the tail in one direction, then the other to secure. Cut tail and weave it in. Done.

[lisalu]

Okay, knitting lesson!

 

1. The two needles with the "long skinny plastic piece" (cable) between them is a circular needle.

 

2. The set of four double ended needles are "double pointed" needles (DPNs)

 

3. You can get a cheap little gadget with holes in it that tell you what size your needles are. Circulars and DPNs aren't marked on the needle.

 

Both can be used to work in the round, such as knitting a hat, BUT.....

 

As you have already discovered, with the circular needle it must be short enough to accommodate all your stitches. That is why they come in different lengths. But keep this in mind: for a hat worked in the round you will be decreasing stitches as you get to the top. You will end up with only a few stitches once you get to the end and obviously those are not going to fit on ANY circular needle. So you will either need to do the entire project on DPNs or you can start with a circular and switch to DPNs when you have decreased to the point where they no longer fit on the circular

 

Having said that, someone will surely tell you about the Magic Loop method for knitting in the round with circular needles so that you don't need DPNs. But you may find that confusing as a beginner so I would suggest you learn to use DPNs to begin with and save the trickier techniques for when you get more experience.

 

There are patterns for hats knit flat and sewed together. And as the previous poster mentioned, you will need to know how to do decreases*. But don't let that scare you off, hats are fun and easy to knit. DPNs are a little awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it they are fun to use. (I am the DPN Queen, so let me know if you need help)

 

*working two stitches together so as to decrease the total number of stitches. Easiest decrease is to Knit Two Together (K2tog). Simply insert the needle into two stitches at the same time and work them together as one stitch. Voila, one stitch decreased.

[SmoothFox]

THanks to both of you for giving me suggestions.

 

Is the K2tog the same concept as dc2tog ? Basically sticking the yarn needle through 2 stitches at once and doing the stitch as if I was doing one stitch?

 

Donna

[SmoothFox]

I sincerely appreciate your the input. I know absolutely no one to help me learn knitting and it is frustrating. You all gave me more input than anyone! I sincerely appreciate everyone for trying to help me learn to knit.

 

I usually don't give up when I'm learning something but I was very frustrated not knowing basic information. For some reason crocheting was like so easy for me. Knitting I keep doing stupid things and getting frustrated at it.

 

So from your post I just learned that the one circular needle I have is too big. I thought they are all the same length.

 

The small red needles, do they also come in different thicknesses? All I saw in the store were these tiny red ones.

 

I have a needle question. Looking at this red needle next to me, it says number 15 US 10.0. When I read a pattern and they say use a size 7 needle, do they mean a 7 where the 15 is or where the 10 is.

 

Donna

[AutumnWindsong]

Since lisalu hasn't answered yet, I'll take the liberty of answering for her. YES. Any time you are going to decrease stitches in knitting, you are going to do 2 stitches together as one...that is your decrease. If you are on a Knitting row, you k2tog. If you are on a Purl row, you p2tog. Once you get used to it, there is nothing to it. If you ever need help, holler. There are a lot of us here who are willing to help, and you can almost always find at least ONE of us on line at any given time. Good luck.

 

Blessed Be.

[AutumnWindsong]

Sorry I didn't see that last post. Most straight knitting needles have their sizes marked on the end. These usually come in a shorter and longer size. If it says 15, they are size 15 needles. If they say 2, they are size 2. The smaller the number, the smaller the stitches are going to be while you are knitting. A lot of times this helps with socks and such. The set of 4 needles you have is usually used to make any tubular shaped product. IE: socks, hats, etc. Then you have the cabled needles (Circular Needles). I use those primarily for Afghans, blankets, sweaters, or ANY object that is going to use a lot of stitches that I don't want coming off the needles. The project I am working on right now is a shawl. It's going to have 286 stitches on the needles when I finally finish it, and it needs those circular needles to handle the size. I hope some of this information has helped.

 

Blessed Be.

[lisalu]

As AutumnWindsong mentioned circulars are not only used for working in the round, but also for working with large numbers of stitches like a blanket (in that case you work back and forth on the circular needle rather than around).

 

Grab yourself a knitting gauge like I mentioned before that has the holes for you to size your needles. Then you'll know exactly what you have. When you are talking about your "small red needles" I assume you are talking about your DPNs (they come in sets of four or five) and yes they come in all the same sizes as regular needles. Like steel crochet hooks, knitting needles are numbered but just to make it confusing they are the OPPOSITE with the larger number being a larger needle. A size 7 or 8 needle is a very common size for using with WW yarn so if you are buying needles, start with those.

 

When you are making the transition from crocheting to knitting, you will be surprised that there are more similarities than you might think. If you look closely when you are making a knit stitch you will see that basically you are pulling a loop through a loop - just like crocheting. The difference is that you are doing it in a different "dimension", so to speak. In crochet you are basically working one stitch at a time (even though they are in rows or rounds) while in knitting you are working a whole row or round at a time (even though stitch by stitch). This will make much more sense once you get into it.

 

It has always been my opinion that anyone who can crochet can knit (and vice versa). I know I will hear a lot of arguments from people on both sides who just CAN'T knit/crochet! But if you can manipulate yarn with a hook you can manipulate yarn with a needle and you open yourself up to so many more possibilities when you do.

 

Don't hesitate to ask us for help, knitters love to share!

[morehotcoffee]

Try knittinghelp.com to see videos of techniques used in knitting. I am the type that has to see it done sometimes. Good luck and don't give up.

[dmcrochets]

Here's a hat pattern from the Coats and Clark site that they rate as "suitable for beginners". It is knitted flat and then seamed. I'm working on my third one now.

[sammimag]

I like the looks of Brooklyntweeds Turn a Square Hat. You wouldn't have to do the stripes. Dh is knitting these up for some of the men in the family.

[Nila]

Here's the pattern for my favorite knitted hat pattern:

http://kodymayknits.blogspot.com/2007/11/generic-hat-pattern-for-charts-rounded.html

 

It uses US size 8 needle, and has flat and round instructions. It doesn't give a gauge, but it should be about 4sts to 1"

 

 

What I'd like to add to the needle talk:

Circular needles come in two very common lengths around here: 16" long and 29" long. If you can find a 16" long needle, that is perfect for hats (except the top which will needle DPNs). The problem is, walmart around here only sells 29" needles and all of them are US size 10 or bigger. Then they sell DPNs in sets of 4, but none of them are bigger than a US size 3. So I wouldn't suggest looking at walmart if yours is anything like ours...

 

Oh, and I find chopsticks to be very close to US size 8 needles if you ever need to improvise your own DPNs.

[Knit Happens]

One last thing to add since no one addressed the "join" question. An easy way to accomplish this is to cast on one extra stitch, then when you are joining you cross the last stitch casted on over the first stitch casted on, and your stitches on the dpns are now joined...depending on whether or not you're using 4 or 5 dpns, your joined stitches will look like a triangle (3 needles with stitches on, one free needle to work the stitches) or a square in the case of 5 needles (4 needles with stitches on and one free needle to work the stitches). Also, you could cast on the 1 additional stitch and just knit the last and first stitches together rather than crossing one over the other.

[SmoothFox]

WOW lots of wonderful patterns to try. Can't wait to finish this scarf.

 

You all are wonderful for your advice to new knitters.

 

Thanks a million.

 

Donna

[sammimag]

I use a modified magic loop when I knit hats. I use a 40" circ and just pull out a loop as I go around the hat. As I start to decrease the hat I can do more of a real magic loop.

 

 

A couple of videos from knit picks on using circs:

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNn2ph4HDc&feature=related

 

Knitting a hat:

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hl7HGMDy0&feature=related

[sewmom]

Don't forget http://www.knittinghelp.com - it's my favorite site for videos.

[SmoothFox]

I decided to try this hat you mentioned but my first stitch on each row looks loose. Whenever I make something like a scarf, my outside edge stitches always look bad. They look big and loose. How do you make the edge row look nicer so when I go to weave ends in, it won't look like it's standing out with big holes.

 

Here's a hat pattern from the Coats and Clark site that they rate as "suitable for beginners". It is knitted flat and then seamed. I'm working on my third one now.

[jessicagil]

I decided to try this hat you mentioned but my first stitch on each row looks loose. Whenever I make something like a scarf, my outside edge stitches always look bad. They look big and loose. How do you make the edge row look nicer so when I go to weave ends in, it won't look like it's standing out with big holes.

 

I have the same exact problem with my edges! that is why I do not do more then mess around.

[Nila]

Hmmm... I must admit that doesn't happen to me often. Maybe try keeping a little tighter tension on the last stitch of the row and then the first stitch when you turn? Or, have you considered a selvage stitch? If the name scares you, it's just slipping the first stitch of every row. It makes a nice tight edge which is great for sewing seams. And if all else fails, you can always fudge the seam a bit to help hide the loose stitches.

[sammimag]

Knitting hats in the round totally avoids seaming. I try to knit everything without seams if possible.

 

There are good links in this thread how to do it too.

[Dangerouscrochet]

Try knittinghelp.com to see videos of techniques used in knitting. I am the type that has to see it done sometimes. Good luck and don't give up.

:cheer:clap

 

 

I Was just about to post this link also. There videos are a HUGE help!!!!:yay