this hat is KILLING me. i am so stuck.

i have already had so many problems with this hat and now there is another one;

so, i decided to do less stitches than before since the previous hat was too big, so i measured it all out and everything but when i do the rows for the ribbing, it gets bigger, a lot bigger. is this because of the needles i'm using? if i used smaller needles would it not stretch out so much?
i'm using size 10.5 and i also have size 5 needles.

when i measure the 10.5 needles they are 5mm but so are my other needles but they're noticeably different size.

wtf is going on!!!! why do i suck at this so much

[TEMA]

Hmmmm....
I'm rather new to all this but I'll take a chance...
It seems to me that if, when you are ribbing, your hat gets bigger, it is because you are knitting one and then purling one.
When you purl, your knitting gets looser. You might just try tightening up your purls a bit and maybe that will help.
Are you doing the hat on circulars or straight?
TEMA

i'm doing it on circulars, but i'm not knitting in the round. i'm doing it on circulars because the needles are a bigger size than my straight needles.

maybe i could change the ribbing to a nice braided pattern like in another hat i own? would that maybe be tighter? i think you're right in thinking that it stretches cuz of the p1 k1.. i'm new to this as well haha but that sounds right.

[suzeeq]

Ribbing lookes bigger than it ends up when you're on the first few rows. I'd wait till you get it done and an inch or so of the stockinette added. Then measure it and decide if it's too big.

Size 10½ US needles cannot be 5mm, they are 6.5mm. US Size 5 needles are 3.75mm and that's a noticeable difference. You should probably get a US 8 or 9 which are 5 and 5.5mm. And unless you have a needle sizer gauge, it's really hard to tell what your needles measure.

i did do an inch and then put it around my head, and it was big and baggy.

i realized i measured the needles wrong, they are indeed different sizes. if i did a gauge would it be easier to help me?

[suzeeq]

A gauge is useful if you have a lot of needles and don't remember which are which size, but it won't help your knitting any.

You need to knit more than an inch of ribbing; it's always really loose and stretchy until there's more length. So knit the 10 rows, do the increases and knit another 2 more inches. Then measure it laying flat on a table, don't put it on your head stretched out. When unstretched, the ribbing should be slightly smaller than the head measure. The increase stitches will add more to the width, but you need them for the beret shaping, that's how they are.

[imrachel]

There is something off with your 10.5 needles. They should be 6.5mm, as suzeeq said. So either your needle sizer is wrong or the needle manufacturer is wrong.

I would frog it and start over again with this pattern: http://www.coatsandclark.com/cgi-bin...overed+gotcha+

I would print it out and then circle which yarn weight and which hat size you are going to be using so that you don't get mixed up as you go. (For the size, measure just above the tops of the ears for the circumference.) Be sure to do a gauge swatch, first, so that things will come out right.

By the way, when you have ribbing, such as at the bottom of a sweater, the pattern will often tell you to use a smaller needle for the ribbing than for the stockinette stitch part of the item.

[imrachel]

Oh this is a beret??? I didn't see that in any of your posts. I'm confused. Well, if you're trying to do a beret, then the Gotcha Covered pattern won't be what you want. But if you're looking for just a basic hat pattern, it'll do the job.

[suzeeq]

This is the pattern she wants to do - http://knotions.com/issues/spring_20...irections.aspx
I first thought she had 5mm needles and advised her to double the sts and the rows, but it turns out they're US 5s and 10½s. She did that with the larger needles and it was too big, so we're trying to get the stitch number right for that size.

A gauge is useful if you have a lot of needles and don't remember which are which size, but it won't help your knitting any.

You need to knit more than an inch of ribbing; it's always really loose and stretchy until there's more length. So knit the 10 rows, do the increases and knit another 2 more inches. Then measure it laying flat on a table, don't put it on your head stretched out. When unstretched, the ribbing should be slightly smaller than the head measure. The increase stitches will add more to the width, but you need them for the beret shaping, that's how they are.

okay i'll try this. i wish i didn't have to knit so much, my wool is like falling apart. but i'll do it.

There is something off with your 10.5 needles. They should be 6.5mm, as suzeeq said. So either your needle sizer is wrong or the needle manufacturer is wrong.

I would frog it and start over again with this pattern: http://www.coatsandclark.com/cgi-bin...overed+gotcha+

I would print it out and then circle which yarn weight and which hat size you are going to be using so that you don't get mixed up as you go. (For the size, measure just above the tops of the ears for the circumference.) Be sure to do a gauge swatch, first, so that things will come out right.

By the way, when you have ribbing, such as at the bottom of a sweater, the pattern will often tell you to use a smaller needle for the ribbing than for the stockinette stitch part of the item.

yeah like i said, i measured my needles wrong. i measured them on an old ruler so i guess it wasn't accurate. also like you said in your second post, this is a beret so that pattern is really no use to me. but thanks anyway!

so, i should use my smaller needles for the ribbing then?

this is so confusing, like everytime i'm told somethng new i don't know how many stitches to do anything, i wish this would just work, ugh.