How to Knit a Hat in 2026: A Beginner's In-the-Round Method

How do you knit a hat?

Knit it as a tube: cast on the stitch count your pattern's gauge gives on a 16-inch circular needle, join the round without twisting, work a stretchy rib and then the body, and decrease the crown until you can draw the yarn through the last few stitches. Lion Brand's free Learn to Knit Hat is a beginner-rated worked example that casts on 44 stitches of super bulky yarn and closes the top over 11 stitches.

The sizes and stitch counts below come from the Craft Yarn Council's head-circumference standard and pattern-reading guide, Knit Picks' hat-size chart, addi's needle notes and Lion Brand's free patterns, gathered as published documentation rather than first-hand use (checked October 2026). If circular needles feel like a step too far, the flat version near the end needs only a pair of needles and a seam.

Step 1: Pick the size, then plan for negative ease

Start with the head, not the yarn. The Craft Yarn Council (CYC) publishes a standard head-circumference chart, and Knit Picks publishes a planning chart that adds hat height and a rough yardage for each size. Their age bands don't line up exactly, so the table keeps them in separate columns.

Wearer	Head circumference (CYC)	Head circumference (Knit Picks)	Hat height (Knit Picks)	Yardage estimate (Knit Picks)
Child	18–20 in. (45.5–51 cm)	20″ (child, 3–10 years)	8.5″	100–180
Tween / teen	20–22 in. (51–56 cm)	21″ (pre-teens and teens)	10″	100–180
Adult woman	21–23 in. (53–58.5 cm)	22.5″	11″	120–200
Adult man	22–24 in. (56–61 cm)	22.5″–24″	11.5″	200–255

Knit Picks' yardages assume a gauge of 5sts/inch in stockinette, and it calls them rough estimates because yarn use changes with the stitch pattern. Its sizing rule matters more: you'll need approximately 2 inches of negative ease for the hat's circumference. A hat is meant to finish smaller than the head so it grips instead of sliding down. Measure the actual head you are knitting for, since Knit Picks itself notes that not everyone is average.

Step 2: Choose the yarn, the needles and the gauge

Your pattern names all three, and the gauge line is the one that controls fit. A thick yarn makes a quick first hat, and CYC's yarn-weight chart puts numbers on it: the super bulky category knits at 7–11 stitches per 4 inches on US 11 to 17 (8–12.75 mm) needles, against 16–20 stitches for worsted. Fewer, fatter stitches make each round quicker, and each round adds more height.

The worked example uses exactly that kind of yarn. Lion Brand's Learn to Knit Hat calls for one ball of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, which Lion Brand classes as super bulky, a size 13 (9 mm) circular needle 16 in. (40 cm) long, a set of 4 or 5 double-pointed needles in the same size, stitch markers and a large-eyed blunt needle. Its gauge is 10 sts = about 4 in. (10 cm) over the rib pattern, and the pattern tells you, in capitals, to check it.

Knit a swatch in the rib, lay it flat and count. CYC's measuring advice is simple: put the piece on a flat surface and don't stretch it. If your count is off, change needle size until it matches, because a small gauge error is repeated across every stitch of the round.

Why 16 inches? addi's guide to circular lengths lists its 40-50cm needles for sleeves, children's clothing, turtlenecks and hats, and says the shorter circulars come with shorter tips, so a hat can be knitted comfortably on one circular without changing needles. addi Turbo circulars are one option; check that the listing matches your length and needle size before ordering. Check price on Amazon

Step 3: Cast on and join the round

Cast on the pattern's number onto the circular needle. For the Learn to Knit Hat that is 44 sts. Before you knit a stitch, check that the cast-on edge sits along the inside of the needle all the way round, with no twist. Lion Brand's join is a single move: knit the first stitch on the left needle with the working yarn coming from the right needle, being careful not to twist the stitches. A twisted join can't be fixed later, so this is the moment to look twice.

Then place a stitch marker for the beginning of the round and slip it every time you reach it. That marker is how you know where each round starts once the knitting becomes a seamless tube. Check price on Amazon

Step 4: Knit the brim and the body

CYC's pattern-reading guide describes ribbing as the stretchy pattern used at the bottom and cuffs of a sweater to provide flexibility; on a hat, that same stretch holds the brim against the head. Working in the round, you never turn the work, so a knit 2, purl 2 rib is the same instruction every round: knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.

Many hats switch to plain stockinette after a few inches of rib, which in the round means knitting every stitch of every round. The Learn to Knit Hat keeps the rib all the way up: repeat the knit 2, purl 2 round until the piece measures about 10 in. (25.5 cm) from the beginning, measured flat. Lion Brand gives the finished circumference as about 18 in. (45.5 cm) and says the hat "will stretch to fit a range of sizes."

Step 5: Decrease the crown

The crown is where a beginner learns two decreases. Lion Brand's abbreviations define them: k2tog means knit 2 stitches together, and p2tog means purl 2 stitches together. Here is the pattern's crown in full.

Crown round (Learn to Knit Hat)	What you work	Stitch count the pattern gives
Round 1	K2, p2tog, repeated to the end of the round	decreased to 33 sts
Rounds 2 and 3	K2, p1, repeated to the end; move onto double-pointed needles during round 2	no decreases
Round 4	K2tog, p1, repeated to the end	22 sts
Rounds 5 and 6	K1, p1, repeated to the end	no decreases
Round 7	K2tog, repeated to the end	11 sts remain

As the stitches shrink, they stop reaching around a 16-inch circular. Lion Brand's answer is to change to double-pointed needles as you work round 2, knitting onto one double-pointed needle at a time and moving the marker across too. Magic loop on a long circular does the same job; our comparison of double-pointed needles, magic loop and short circulars sets out the trade-offs.

Step 6: Close the top and finish

Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread it into the blunt needle, draw it through all the remaining stitches, pull the opening closed and knot it, as the pattern directs. Weave in both yarn ends. Blocking is optional on a hat, and an all-rib hat is best left unstretched; our guide to why blocking fixes uneven finished knits explains when it helps. Check price on Amazon

The flat alternative: a hat with no circular needle

If you have only ever knitted a scarf, Lion Brand's free Basic Hat turns that skill into a hat. You knit two garter-stitch squares, sew them into a ring and gather the top closed. It is rated beginner, uses one ball of Landscapes yarn on size 9 (5.5 mm) needles, and finishes at about 18 in. (45.5 cm), which Lion Brand says will stretch to fit a range of sizes.

	Learn to Knit Hat (L90267B)	Basic Hat (L70287)
Construction	one piece, worked in the round	two garter squares, sewn into a ring, top gathered
Yarn	Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, super bulky, 1 ball	Landscapes, 1 ball
Needles	size 13 (9 mm) 16 in. circular plus double-pointed needles	size 9 (5.5 mm) needles
Gauge	10 sts = about 4 in. over the rib	15 sts = about 4 in. in garter stitch
Cast on	44 sts	34 sts per square
New skills	joining in the round, rib, k2tog and p2tog	seaming and gathering
Finished circumference	about 18 in. (45.5 cm), stretches	about 18 in. (45.5 cm), stretches

Each square is worked in garter stitch until it measures about 9 in. (23 cm) from the beginning, then bound off with a long tail for sewing. The pattern's diagram turns the squares in different directions before seaming, so follow it rather than lining the rows up.

Changing the yarn or the size

To knit the same hat in a different yarn, match the weight category and then the gauge, or the 44-stitch count no longer gives the same hat. Our guide to swapping yarn by weight, gauge and yardage covers the checks. To change the size, use a multi-size pattern, which prints a cast-on count for each finished circumference; a one-size pattern like this one gives a single count. For yarn in a range of weights, Check the price at Knit Picks. Still building a kit for knitting in the round? You can see our full shortlist of tools.

Sources

1. Head Circumference Chart — Craft Yarn Council (checked October 2026)
2. Hat Size Charts — Knit Picks (checked October 2026)
3. Learn to Knit Hat, Pattern Number L90267B (free pattern PDF) — Lion Brand Yarn Company (checked October 2026)
4. Learn to Knit Hat, L90267B — Lion Brand Yarn Company (checked October 2026)
5. Basic Hat, Pattern Number L70287 (free pattern PDF) — Lion Brand Yarn Company (checked October 2026)
6. How to Read a Knitting Pattern — Craft Yarn Council (checked October 2026)
7. Standard Yarn Weight System — Craft Yarn Council (checked October 2026)
8. addiPremium Classic circular knitting needle (SKU 105-7) — addi / Gustav Selter GmbH & Co. KG (checked October 2026)