I can knit hat now?

[asterroc]

I want to knit a hat. I bought circular needles (size 5, 16") and some yarn (100g) - the person at the yarn store suggested how much of it and what size needles to fit it. She also said something about 4.5 stitches per inch I think, but I don't know how to knit to a specific gauge.

I am under the impression that I should start my knitting at the bottom of the hat and work my way to the top, doing slip stitches along the way. How do I know how many stitches to cast on? How do I know how often to do slip stitches? I'd rather not work directly from a pattern, as I tend to get bored doing that, I want more of general guidelines to help me learn to knit things w/o a pattern.

Comments

[always-going.livejournal.com]

I knit a hat with a brim, and the brim is 32 stitches on size 6 needles. I eye it from there, which usually works well enough. You can also use your needles to knit a small square, that was you know how many stitches per inch you'd need. I'm not sure about specific gauges, even with sewing I eyeball everything.

I knitted a Klein bottle hat for my math final at Marlboro - it was my first try at a hat and it was definitely silly! Good luck with yours :O)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice!

Was your hat modeled after the ones on kleinbottle.com? One of my college roommates knitted me an integral hat and matching socks - it was pink and gray with patterns of integrals, derivatives, e, and π. :)

[always-going.livejournal.com]

It was free hand - which would explain why I started at the "wrong end" (the part that goes on your head, not the skinny part) - the one your roommate made sounds awesome. Do you still have it??

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's with my other infrequently worn winter clothes - it's wool so it's a bit scratchy. I should take a photo of it sometime.

[(Anonymous)]

I remember my Mom used to have small plastic squares with like a ruler on it so she can check the gauge. I think she often used it as a bookmark in whatever book she was using as a pattern but would just use it to periodically reconfirm that she was doing x stitches in y inches etc.

[kelsin.livejournal.com]

I... hate that you can post without being logged in lol. That was me.

[soapfaerie.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you're enjoying yourself! Alas, i can't help you with knitting q's. I'm just a hooker myself, haha. ;)