My sixth Santa hat with this pattern. I wanted us to all have matching hats for when we get the Christmas tree. We are darn cute in our hats. My niece said, “We look like an ad for knitting!” 
Yarn:
I have yet to find a red yarn that doesn’t bleed. Washed the yarn prior to knitting. Needed several washings/ rinsing to remove the excess dye. The hat I knit for myself (not this one) I did not wash the red enough and it bled onto the natural part of the hat. You have to really soak and rinse it until there’s barely any to no dye in the water. Rios is a great choice for a Santa hat.
Mods:
My gauge is finer (more stitches per inch) than the pattern, so I needed to cast on more stitches for his big head. I didn’t want to try to meet gauge as that would not produce a fabric I like. As such, I had to do my own decrease math.
Used a different provisional cast on. See notes below.
11-14-2024
Cast on 112 sts on US8 using Long Tail Provisional Cast On. This time I used a bulky acrylic for the scrap yarn, which is the opposite of what she says in the video. My last Santa Hat, I used a fingering weight and it was hard to remove. We’ll see if this easier to remove later.
11-17-2024
Knit ribbing to 5.5”. Used 64g on ribbing.
Joined red. Long Tail Provisional cast on with bulky acrylic yarn worked well. Was easier to see and remove. Used US1 needle to pick up cast on stitches. I turned the cast on edge to the inside of the hat when knitting together.
12-02-2024
I was unable to finish the hat in time for getting our Christmas tree this year. So for the picture, I just stuck the hat on his head and flipped the needles to the back. Yarn ball in his pocket. If you really look you can see the shadow of the needle on my hair, and the edge of the live stitches. My niece said, “We look like an add for knitting!” Ha ha! Love it. I will try to remember to style our hats/pompoms the way she did next year. She’s the only one with the pompom showing cutely.
12-05-2024
Knitting finished.
Brim - 64g
Pompom - 20g
Red - 70g
12-09-2024
Finished size:
19” at widest red part
17” tall not including the pompom
jenhp notebook 
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