I’ve already done a couple scarves. I can knit, purl, do ribbing, and cable stiches and now I’d like to try a hat. Do I need circular needles for a hat or can I make one on the single-pointed needles I already have? (I have sizes 10.5 and 8 ). I found this pattern for what appears to be a pretty basic hat, but the directions don’t specify if the needles need to be circular and/or double-pointed. (Unless I’m just totally missing it…)
Thanks!
Well for that pattern, you will be using straight needles because they are saying the instructions as rows. If they say round, you would be doing circular knitting. Another clue is to look for whether or not they tell you that you have to seam to finish the item.
When in doubt, look at the finishing directions. When it says, ‘sew back seam’, then its on straights. Both types of hats are fine, but circs are easier in that you don’t have to seam. You do, however, usually have to switch to double pointed needles when you get to the top–or some way to make the top smaller when there are too many stitches for the circular.
I think a hat on straights is a great first hat project.
So, I’m still toying with the idea of buying circular needles and DPNs to do this hat. I’ve been google-ing hats all day, and I can’t find a website that shows you how to finish the top with DPNs. I really have no idea how to use them, but I’m also no good at sewing, so I’d like to try and make this hat project as painless as possible. Anyone know of any good resources for first-time hat makers?
There might be instructions in some hat patterns for using the dpns, and there are sources in books and such. Amy has video on knitting on dpns, and Silver’s sock tutorial has good pictures of knittng with dpns.