A Tale of Two Hats
Today I have for you a cautionary tale. I often promote swatching on this blog because I know it is necessary to get the fit you want. Let’s look into why I have developed that firm belief, with hats the subject of today’s focus.
Notice the different lengths of these three hats. One is close fitting, the middle one a bit slouchy, and the bottom one is very slouchy!
I used to merrily start a hat with the needles suggested by the designer. I didn’t want to swatch because I was so eager to get going and who wants to take the time and use up that yarn anyway? After all, it was just a hat.
I began to swatch for hats because I made too many that didn’t fit the way I wanted. They were too big or too small and they are now forlornly living at the bottom of my hat and mitten tub.
I came to the reluctant realization that if I want a hat to fit reasonably close to the one on the pattern then I need to get the same gauge as the designer. The only way to do that is to swatch! I’ve found that this may require me to go down a needle size or two, use the same size needle, or in one case I even needed to go up a needle size in order to get the gauge on the pattern. Just to be clear, I still don’t sit down and say to myself, “oh goodie, I get to knit a swatch!”. Usually it’s more like, “well, I need to do this in order for the hat to come out the way I want, so let’s get going”.
In the last few weeks, I’ve made two hats. I swatched. Neither of those hats fit the way I want them to! Now before you say to yourself something about swatches not working, let’s look at why those hats didn’t suit my fancy.
The first hat was Bernard, designed by Knox Mountain Knit Co. I wanted to make the slouchy style for my son. He has a big head and he wanted it looser than a beanie. I figured out the correct size needles to use to get the stitch gauge and started knitting.
Bernard on the top of a pile of close fitting hats. You can tell it is not slouchy!
My mistake on this one is that I forgot about row gauge! Most hats have you knit a certain amount of inches which is easy. Bernard has you repeat a pattern several times; if your row gauge is off your slouchy hat may become a beanie! This hat fits my son perfectly around his head but it’s most definitely not slouchy which suggests a row gauge issue. From now on I will check my row gauge in addition to my stitch gauge so I will be better informed about how the hat will fit.
The other hat I made is on display at My Sister Knits. It’s the Stardust hat designed by Pam Powers Knits and uses our new Ikigai Chibi Paka Chunky yarn that is like butter to knit with. I dutifully made a swatch and found the needle size I required which was smaller than the one suggested in the pattern.
Look at the size difference between a close fitting Morning Walk hat and Stardust!
When I first made swatches, I measured the height and width before and after washing them. I started thinking that was unnecessary because all I really need is the resulting stitch and row count. That may be true but only if you trust it!
I did not trust my gauge when I started knitting this hat. The fabric felt too dense and it looked quite small. I ripped it out and started over with larger needles. Everything went well until I put it in water. I watched, horrified, as it grew! If I’d either trusted my swatch or measured it before and after I washed it, I would have a better fitting hat.
On the left is the swatch for Stardust. On the right are the swatches for Bernard.
When you’re in the shop, try it on! It fits but it’s a bit looser and longer than I’d like; it’s a great example of trusting your swatch!
You can learn from my mistakes; I shall in future get my row count and I shall once again measure my swatches before and after washing!
I encourage you to swatch if it’s important to get a certain size even if it’s ‘just a hat’!
