ok, So my secondary project I am starting is knitting petal hats for the nicu. This is the patern I have
http://www.p2designs.com/pdfs/petalhat.pdf
I was wanting to make an alteration to the design, I want to knit it in the flat and make the headband portion button together ( or something like that). Is this possible? What are some things I need to consider when making this change? Also i couldn’t figure out what size she has listed for the casting on etc. She mentions 4 sizes but only has 2 cast on sizes?? or have i misread? Also i was wanting to use bernat satin but it is a worsted weight, What is the difference between sport weight and worsted?
ok, so i think these are all of my questions for now, I appreciate your responses!
Also it seems that 84 stitches cast on is kinda big for a doll sized hat (size of the palm or a hand)???
The tiny preemie hat is 10 1/2 inches around I think and the biggest hat I think was 14 or so inches. 84 stitches seems like quite a few, but she is using small yarn. The two smallest hats are in baby yarn or fingering yarn. That is similar to sock yarn and it quite fine. The others are made of sport weight which is a step up in size but smaller than worsted. Sport weight works up to around 22 stitches for 4 inches and worsted it more like 17, but they all vary, and of course it depends on the needles you use.
I suppose it is possible to make the hat flat and put a button on it to close it. When it says to join it to knit in the round, don’t-- just work back and forth. If you need the edges to overlap a bit for a buttonhole you might need to add a little for that, or you could put a loop right at the edge and maybe not need more stitches.
I’ve not made this hat and don’t know what all other changes you might need to make, but you can probably figure it out.
Thank you! Do you know if I don’t cast on the full 84 do I reduce by 4’s to keep the pattern right?
The pattern makes much more sense to me now!! YAY!! 
The ribbing they call for on the hat is a K2, P1 ribbing so for that you need a multiple of 3. Both 84 and 93 are multiples of 3. But if you change the number of stitches beyond a possible overlap for the button you would change all of the nubers of stitches for the petals. If you just add for an overlap, and keep the other numbers the same you would have an easier task. But if you are wanting to use bigger yarn to get the same size hat you are talking more design changes.
What I would do if I wanted to try that would be to knit one hat just as called for (at least in the number of stitches, you could use any yarn, but realize it will be big), and then you will probably learn enough about the hat and the way it works to see where you would be able to reduce the number of stitches. That is the approach I’d take. Someone might just look at the pattern and know what to do, but probably not me.
