How To Resize a Hat Knitting Pattern

How To Resize a Hat Knitting Pattern

All heads don't come in the same sizes, so resizing a hat knitting pattern to fit your entire family is a fact of life. Luckily, it's not that hard to do, and you don't need to be a math wizard to resize a knitted hat pattern, you just have to know a few knitting basics.

The easiest way to resize a hat pattern, or any knitting pattern, for that matter, is to use larger yarn and needles. For example, if your pattern calls for sport weight yarn and size 7 needles, substitute worsted weight yarn and use size 8 or 9 needles, and your pattern will turn out bigger. Substitute fingering weight yarn and use 5 or 6 needles, and it will turn out smaller. You can figure out the correct gauge to give you the correct size by looking at the information on the yarn label. It should tell you the correct needle size for the yarn, and give an approximate gauge for the yarn with those needles.

If you don't want to substitute yarn and needles, there is another way to resize a hat knitting pattern. This one is a little more involved, and you will have to do a little math, but it's still pretty simple. First, take a measurement of the person's head that you'd like to knit a hat for. Again, using the yarn label, find out the gauge of your yarn with the right needles. If the measurement of the original hat pattern is too small, add on the number of stitches you need to reach the correct size, according to the gauge measurement on the package. You can subtract the number of stitches you need to make the hat smaller, too.

If the hat pattern has a certain stitch or design, you're going to need to add or subtract the exact number of stitches in the design. For example, if your design is a 9stitch repeat, then you're going to add or subtract that exact number of stitches, so that your pattern is still correct. For example, if you need to add on 7 stitches to meet your measurement, instead, add on 9 stitches, so the design is complete.

That's just about all there is to resizing basic hat knitting patterns. You can use the yarn and needle substitution for other knitting patterns, too, like scarves, sweaters and more. It's a simple way to make your knitting more enjoyable and wearable at the same time!