Chunky Hat Recipe

In February Vanessa asked me to knit her a hat to match a scarf she had and she told me she wanted a chunky hat. I must admit knitting with chunky yarn is not my favourite. I was teaching at Wool On The Exe a few days later and picked out three yarn combinations: one set of luxury wool/silk blend 4ply yarns, one set of wool dk yarn and one set of wool chunky yarn. 

Want to guess which was my preferred option? Vanessa chose the chunky set (hint: this was not my preferred choice). The advantage of chunky yarn is that it's quick to knit. Even with the long rib so it could be folded over, this hat took only an evening to knit. 

I used Re:Treat from West Yorkshire Spinners.  The yarn is beautiful and lovely to knit with.

Then Simon asked me to knit him a hat too. So I used the same pattern but added four rounds to the rib for him and used fewer colours. I used up the grey yarn from Vanessa's hat and bought a ball of blue. I used 90g so you can easily get a hat out of one ball rather than using three like I did for Vanessa.

This is not a full pattern, but a guide to how I knitted these two chunky hats. There are notes at the end to help you work out your own size. You can download the Chunky Hat  Recipe for free.

Both Simon and Vanessa have fairly large heads so this hat is big but you can easily make it fit a smaller head. Follow my guidance below (which are also included in the pattern).

To work out your own size:

/ = divide

x = multiply

Knit a swatch in stocking stitch and measure your tension per 10cm (4in).

Total stitches per 10cm/10 = stitches per 1cm

Measure the head of the wearer - negative ease (2-4cm) = circumference of the hat x stitches per 1cm = stitches to cast on. Round up or down so you get a number you can divide by 4 for (k2, p2) rib.

Cast on and knit the rib for the desired length.

Knit stocking stitch until the hat is the desired length minus crown shaping.

Shape the crown:

(Total stitch count/8) - 2 = stitches to knit before decrease

For example: (80/8) - 2 = 8 = (k8, k2tog) to end. 8 sts dec.

Continue alternating between decrease rounds and plain rounds (on decrease rounds work one stitch less before k2tog than on previous decrease round) until you have 8 stitches left. Break yarn and pull through remaining stitches.

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