I’m making this hat (link below)with some leftover acrylic yarn. The pattern says to work to row 5 of pattern, approx 21 inches. Well I’m at row 5, it is 21 inches but the band is a bit tight. It will definetly fit on my head but it is a bit snug. This hat was supposed to be for eveyone in the house and it may be small for my guys. If I continue on and wait for another row 5 it will now be 23 inches which will be a little loose for me.
I guess my questions are; is it better to make a hat a little snug or loose. And does acrylic yarn have memory. If I make this larger and my boys put this on are they totally going to stretch it out so that it will now be to large for me.
LOL…I will have a bunch of questions ,in a bit, in the question area about the top of the hat. :shaking head: I’m totally confused.
I guess my first question is “how snug or how loose?” Personally, I think I’d rather have it a little snug (depending on exactly how snug a “little” snug is). My reasons are that with it being a hat, I would want to make sure it was going to stay on my head the way it’s supposed to - not slipping around on my hair, having to fight to keep it in place if it’s windy, etc. On the other hand, if a little snug means it’s going to feel like it’s leaving a dent in my scalp after wearing it a while that’s another story.
Acrylic will stretch some, but not nearly as much as natural fibers…and, when you wash it, it will go back to the original size (to me it seems to stay strectched only as long as you wear it consistently between washings). So, while it may be a little stretched out if someone with a bigger head wears it, I don’t think it will be anywhere near what a wool cap would stretch out to, and it won’t stay that stretched out after washing - at least that’s been my experience.
in my family, we have bowling ball heads–big and round…
other have pin heads… (not an insult, just a comparison!)
measure your head! (and your kids!)
my son had a 21 inch head a BIRTH (most newborn have 16 to 17 inch heads… some adults don’t have heads that measure 21 inches!)
i have a 23.5 inch head, my son now an adult, a 25 inch head.
many hat patterns are “one size fits most” --and these patterns don’t usually fit me (or my son, or daughter (or ex, or DIL–we not only have bowling ball head, we LIKE THEM and we meet and marry and have kids with other people with bowling ball heads!)
If you learn that you too, are members of the bowling ball sized head group, you’ll learn that you often need to add a few stitches (a pattern repeat!) to most patterns for hats, or they won’t fit!
(many of the hats in the Stitch and Bitch book are pin head size hats… they don’t come near to fitting me…
(and pin heads of the world, remember, albert einstein was a pin head… size is no indicaton of performance!)