I knit a lot of hats. Mostly for preemies/newborns for charities.

Until now, I've always followed a pattern but they're SO easy, I don't want to do that anymore.

Since babies come in all sizes, I know I can just whip up a basic rolled brim or ribbed brim hat knit in the round quickly.

But the decreases keep messing me up!

I've noticed that most hat patterns (adult and baby alike) are cast on in multiples of 8.
Is that because it's easiest to decrease multiples of 8?

If I stick with multiples of 8, how would I start the decreases when I get to that point?

Is it K8, K2tog around, then K a round, then K7, K2tog around, etc?

Or is it K6, K2tog around, then K a round, then K5, K2tog around, etc?

Basically, if I CO with a multiple of 8, what do I need to do to get an even, nice decrease?

I made this more difficult than I had to, didn't I? :teehee:

Took me a while to learn this, too.

Multiple of 11 = k9, k2tog, etc
Multiple of 10 = k8, k2tog, etc
Multiple of 9 = k7, k2tog, etc
Multiple of 8 = k6, k2tog, etc

Every other row you start with one less before you k2tog.
If you look at what is done there you can probably figure out anything now.

I didn't find this until later, but it might help you understand, too. Scroll down to almost the bottom. It says basically the same thing I just did.
http://www.mielkesfarm.com/bsic_hat.htm

Thanks so much, Jan! That's a HUGE help! :)

:thumbsup: