Knit Hats: Brimmed Hat

I've discovered that I really enjoy knitting hats in the round (i.e. no seaming). When I saw this pattern for a knit hat with a brim, I immediately thought of my son and his love for ball caps. Ball caps aren't very warm in the winter, so I decided to make him this one for wintertime.

Here you can see how the brim looks just like a baseball cap. It's just a little bit floppier since there's no interfacing inside.

My son was so excited when I told him I had made this one for him. I let him choose the color of the band (green), and I also let him choose the buttons that hold it on. He chose these buttons because he said they reminded him of frog's eyes, and the whole effect made him think of a frog. Doesn't that sound like a typical 8-year-old boy? :)

This was one of the easiest patterns ever, even though the brim makes it look intimidating. It took me just a day and a few hours to finish it.

The only trouble I had was finding the size 10 circular needle in a 16" length. Michaels is the only store around here that carries them, and they only carry them in their more expensive bamboo needles, which are twice the price of the metal needles. I must say, I much prefer metal needles because the yarn doesn't slide well on bamboo, but I did manage to get through the hat without too much frustration.

I avoided having to buy size 10 DPNs (also only available in bamboo) by using a trick I remembered reading online. I used the size 10 point of the circular needle to make one DPN's worth of stitches, then I transferred them to the largest DPNs I had. It worked perfectly! I certainly wouldn't want to make an entire hat that way, but it worked great for the 2-3 rows I needed it for on this hat.

If you'd like to try the pattern, it's called Capitan Hat on Ravelry.