This is just about the easiest beret, tam, slouchy hat I have ever knit. It knits up very fast, not 45 minutes fast, but you can definitely whip it out in a day and without heavy concentration. Yet, at the same time it has a lot more character than a plain ole stockinette hat The stitch pattern gives you a pleated effect and breaks up pooling as well as giving solid colour yarns a bit of pop and texture because of the sections of knits and purls. This is not a closely fitted hat gauge isn’t that important…but that said I had about 9sts per 2” with both the yarns I used. (a little bit more with the bartlett, about 19 over 4”) So long as you use a worsted weight yarn and the same size needles you should be okay unless you are an extremely tight or loose knitter.