Hello, I am starting the Sandoval Hat pattern (again) and was wondering how many stitches I should cast on using the Juniper Moon Moonshine yarn. I started with 80 stitches on the 9 circular needle and it looked very small…so I unraveled it. My daughter’s head is just under 22 inches in diameter. I know this is a ribbed hat and everyone says it will stretch. I just don’t want to make another mistake…this is the second time making a hat. My husband said it should be 108 stitches but I think that might be to big. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you
We cant answer that. Your gauge is unique to you. If you give us that, someone could calculate it for you. 22 inches seems very large. My family has large heads - ready-to-wear hats are usually very snug & some entirely to small for us & our heads are not that large.
Also be sure to use one of the very stretchy cast ons. I like Italian or circular. Norwegian is very stretchy too and more like long tail if you feel comfortable with that. Some people call it Old German cast on, but I learned it as Norwegian. Then you can confidently factor in some negative ease (just a little small for the size ensuring nice snug fit - being stretched a bit. ).
I knit a pretty large swatch for gauge. At least 4 in x 4 in. Then I wash it & pressit out flat to dry, being absolutely sure it is completely pressed out to the edge but not stretched. I found out the hard way I tended to measure my swatch too small & that led to too many stitches/wrong size. Always too big. So now I block the swatch as close to being stretched - but not stretched - as I can & Im getting better fit now days.
thank you for your help, much appreciated