Has anyone had trouble when knitting hats and the brim doesn’t stay snug. I follow the pattern, hat fits fine at first and eventually is too lose. I would appreciate any helpful tips. Thank you.
Knitting hats
It is pretty much normal for a hat to become wider and at the same time shorter after some time. Instead of knitting a normal gauge swatch, use a hat that has already become looser around the brim as gauge and then either create an own pattern with this gauge or find a pattern fitting this gauge.
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Thank you for the information but the hats fit nice and snug but after a week they become too wide at the brim. Do you think elastic thread would help?
What kind of yarn are you using? Some fibres have good recovery – they bounce back and ribbing stays snug even after being worn for a while. Other fibres stretch out and stay that way (although they may revive with a wash).
For example, 100% wool with multi-ply construction would have good staying power for beanie ribbing.
100% alpaca, or 100% cotton, not so much.
Another factor to bear in mind is that superwash treatments can make wool less grippy and more inclined to bag out.
You can get cotton yarns with a small percentage of elastic that are great for hats if wool is too itchy on the forehead.
Threading through elastic thread could work for the hats you already made. It takes a bit of adjusting to get the tension right and it might show through if the colours are very different though.
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