I made a new hat! It’s meant for my brother, but I think it’s too small. I used one ball of a super bulky chunky yarn. It was 100% acrylic and is annoyingly fluffy, but only cost 2€47, for the 100g so I can’t really complain much. You get what you pay for. The wool was by Pingouin and is called Islande, I don’t know if it’s still made because there was only one ball in the shop and it was discounted by 50%.

I’ve not yet washed the hat because I knitted it up and tried it on and it’s a perfect fit for me. However I’ll be hand washing it at some point in the near future and hopefully it will swell enough to fit my brother.

I made the pattern up as I went and can’t remember exactly what I did. I used 5 double pointed needles in 9mm size. They were also discounted. The yarn recommended 10mm needles, and stated the tension of 8 stitches and 12 rows. I haven’t checked my tension but I always seem to match the ball bands exactly. Hopefully that will help you choose a yarn if you’re planning on making this hat. I’d recommend buying two balls though as my one has only left me with about 20cm to spare.

Also, a word of warning, my head is around the size of a young teenager’s so if it fits me chances are it won’t fit a full grown adult, there is however a lot of stretch although I wish the hat was longer. To make the hat longer add an extra cable repeat or two before you start shaping. And as I said before, I’ve not yet washed it and normally they swell after being washed.

UPDATE

After washing I found the hat swelled sufficiently to an adult size, so should be good for my brother. Always wash following your ball band instructions.

I found darning in ends with a needle too complicated so I ended up using a crochet hook.

When I went back to the wool shop a week after the promotions had ended and the Islande yarn still existed, full price, but not in the same colour.