I made Le Slouch http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/leslouchrev.pdf but when I finished, the top did not lay smoothly, my decreases created puffed up sections. I looked at some other hats I had done and they all seem to do that, but you don’t notice when wearing because they are pulled down on my head.
But with Le Slouch I was expecting a smooth, flat surface. So is it me? or just the nature of decreasing in the round?
One way to avoid creating those puckers or corners is to keep rotating your decreases around as you go so they aren’t all created in the same place.
You do the same number of decreases but you keep moving them along the round so as to distribute them evenly. Works for me anyway.
Never trust a pattern that doesn’t feature an image (a clear image) of the shaping!
ON AVERAGE-
6 decreases Every Other Round, (EOR) will give most knitters, a slight peaked top
8 decreases EOR gives a round dome (half circle)
10 decreases EOR gives a flat top (like a beret)
knitting at loose open gauge, or working with a pattern stitch, (vs stocking knit) will change this ‘average’
(4 or fewer decrease EOR give a very definate peaked shape (like a 'santa claus hat, or the top of witches hat (or dunce cap!)
if you don’t like the shape of the crown, frog, and change the number of decreases in each round-- you can use odd numbers too, (7, or 9 or 11!) to fine tune the shape --and you can change …
i often start shaping with 8 stitches decreased EOR but for last half of decreases, i decrease 8 every round (for a flatter top to the dome…
ie, if i have 96 stitches, i decrease 8 EOR till i have 48 (or perhaps 40) then i decrease every round for next 6 (or 5) rounds.