I’ve come up with a knitting recipe that allows me to grab a skein of yarn (anything over 100 yards seems to work), a set of double-pointed or circular needles in the recommended size, and cast on… no swatching, no worries. All you really need to decide at the outset is how many increase lines you want on the hat. This recipe should work for any number from 3 to 10… I’ve done hats with four, five, and six sets of increases. If you’re on Ravelry, you can see my “recipe hats” project page here. My goal is to make this simple enough that—perhaps after making one hat following my directions—you’ll be able to cast on and knit a hat without having to reference any directions. Even better, I’m hoping that you’ll be confident enough to play with the idea and improve on it, make it your own, and be able to “invent” a hat on the fly.

Assumptions

• You know how to cast on for a project or have someone who can help with this. I use “cable cast on,” and it works fine. Please use whatever method you prefer.

• You know how to do knit and purl stitches and at least one increase stitch. I use KFB (knit front and back) and Cat Bordhi’s “LA-Link and LA-Rink” (youtube link) increases. I believe that you could use any increase you like and have a most excellent finished object. If you want to learn KFB or another standard increase, I suggest starting at Knitting Help (knittinghelp.com) on their Increases page.

• You have yarn and needles. I suggest that you use bulky or super-bulky yarn and whatever needles make sense for that weight of yarn. There’s nothing to stop you from using fingering-weight yarn, but one of the joys of these hats (for me at least) is how fast they progress.

• It might be helpful if you’ve knit in the round before, although my technique of starting might enable this to be your first ITR project. You know how to bind off. I like Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off, but any stretchy, loose bind-off will do.

Notions

• Stitch markers
• Row counter or a pencil and paper
• Gauge-measure, ruler, or tape measure for figuring gauge