I am a beginning knitter and have made lots of hats knitting in the round, but, on this hat it says to cast on 5 stitches evenly between your double pointed needles and for one, how do you cast on five stitches evenly. It then goes on to say that you need to start knitting in the round with these five stitches. Well, I’m looking at these five stitches unevenly distributed on three of my double pointed needles and for the life of me I cannot figure out where to make the first stitch in the round??? HELP! Please. my daughter absolutely loves this pattern and I would hate to dissapoint her. Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, valorie
Don’t worry about it, it’s probably 1, 1, 2, and 1. But it’s a lot easier to start if you use only 2 needles, put the sts on them 3 and 2, then join and knit with a 3rd. Whether it says to or not, I always knit the first round, just to anchor the stitches, then start the incs on the next round. After you’ve done several rounds with the incs, then add the other needles in and rearrange the sts.
This is really a lovely hat pattern. The easiest thing to do is to cast the sts on a single needle. Then knit 2sts onto a dpn and 2sts onto a second dpn and then one st onto the third dpn. (That’s as close to evenly as you’re going to get.) Now join in the round by knitting the 2sts on the first dpn and continuing around the needles. Make sure the sts aren’t twisted around the needles
There’s a video on the Free Videos tab at the top of the page, Advanced Techs, Small Circular knitting that explains all this.
Hey VAlorie, I just started the hat tonight myself. I have been sweating bullets trying to get it started. I finally read on line that you could start a few rows on single points, transfer to dpn and sew up the gap later!! Well, it worked for me but then I got totally upset because I kept getting 29 sts in row 5. Please let me know how you’re doing in this post. I could use some encouragement too. I have a friend whose daughter is crazy about the hat and wants me to make it for her, ughhhh. You can do it!!! So can I
Robin Hood hat by Grace Akhrem is available (for purchase) at Ravelry here.
DCM
You can both do it! Starting with a single dpn is a good trick since working with just a few sts in the round on dpns always looks like forty flying sticks instead of four well-behaved knitting needles. It’s the hardest part and you’re almost past it.
Hello Valorie
I was beginning to pull my hair out trying to work with 5 sts! I had written to the site where I ordered the pattern from and received a few answers from their ‘help’ link.
When one is as frustrated as I was with trying to begin this pattern, it sure stings when the ‘help’ site begins their email with the words, “this is not a difficult pattern to work”! Duh!
But I finally received a beautiful email from one of their other staff (my Angel!) who told me that she too (even though she’d been knitting forever) found it difficult to work with very few sts on dpns. She advised me to cast on the 5sts onto 1 dpn, using the cable cast on method ( that way the right side of your hat will be facing you for the first row) THEN, BEFORE YOU JOIN THE STS TO WORK IN THE ROUND, work the first increase straight across that first needle. That will give you 10 sts on the needle and will be alot easier to work with those 10 sts then with 5. NOW, split those 10 sts up on “3” (not 4) dpns, (3-3-4) she found working with 3 dpns much easier than trying to work with 4 and one more to knit with.
This helped save my sanity.
Now if I can figure out how to do the brim, I’ll be a happy camper!
Keep Stitchin!
Marooka
Another way to do it is cast on 5 sts, then put 2 or 3 of them on another needle and use a third needle to join and work the first round with. Then after a few more rounds with more sts being added, you can add the other needles.
Grace Akhrem Robin Hood Hat pattern is too expensive for a pattern. It is l 7$. Could anyone sell it to me for 3$ ? Thanks a lot and happy holidays!!!
I’m sorry, we can’t do that. The designers work hard to create patterns. If you really can’t afford it I suggest finding a similar pattern.