Stash Dive
Published On: May 17, 2023

This should be out next week, so let’s talk about yarn so you can be ready!

As with most of my patterns, it’s written in lots sizes and gauges, so you can use whatever yarn weight you want and fit pretty much anyone’s head (mine’s 24.75 inches, I’m not leaving anyone out for having a big head)!

Because there are so many gauges and sizes, you don’t have to try to match a particular gauge. Instead, get a fabric you like, measure its gauge, then pick from the sizes for that gauge. This always seems so much more sensible than the alternative!

Here the gauges go from 4 to 7 stitches per inch, so you can use anything from bulky to sport weight yarn, and you’ll want a hat’s worth of whatever yarn you’re going to knit with.

Now, because a hat knit in thick yarn needs less yardage than a hat knit in thin yarn, ‘a hat’s worth’ is a bit nebulous. I find that a 4 oz/100g skein tends to be plenty (even with my big head) for all but the absolute fattest yarns (those very occasionally need just a little bit more). More specifically, something around 250 yards for sport weight or dk, 200 for worsted, 150 for aran or bulky is a generous estimate.

About 1/3 of the knitting is the darkest color (for the double thickness brim), about 2/3 is the medium color (for the rest). Those should knit up at more or less the same gauge. I did that by using two different colors of the same base, which is always safest, but not necessary as long as the gauge stays consistent.

You’ll also want yarn to embroider with. I used two colors of the same base (the dark one from the brim and a light one) and about 1/3 as much yarn for the embroidery as for the knitting.

That let me do three courses of stitching (which covered most of the body of the hat). But I could just as easily have done only one (or two, or four) or used more or fewer colors. Embroidery is a fantastic way to use up scraps from other projects, so I often let the state of my scraps bin dictate how much I do!

In short, this is super flexible. Find a skein of something you like for the knitting, then rummage around in the scraps bin for the rest. You’ll make something grand!

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