1. Check Your Gauge on a Magic Loop Swatch

In this video, I’ll teach you how to knit in the round on Magic Loop so you can check your gauge on a round swatch AND practice Magic Loop before you start the actual hat.

You’ll be checking your gauge using the larger of the two needles you ordered. Your goal is to find the size needles that gets you a gauge of 3.5 sts/in in Stockinette st (St st).

2. Cast-On

To start knitting your bulky hat, you’ll use your smaller needles to cast on 56 stitches using the Long-Tail Cast-On. In the video I teach you the cast-on plus give you tips about how to cast on loosely and easily and quickly count your stitches.

3. Start Ribbing

When you finish casting on, you’ll get set up for Magic Loop and begin to work in 1×1 (K1, P1) rib. In this video I review how to work the knit and purl stitches and show you how to rib in the round on Magic Loop.

4. Ribbing – Tips for Success

Since you’ll be doing nine rounds of ribbing, here I teach you some tips and tricks for reading your stitches and counting your rounds so you can work this section without thinking too hard or writing anything down.

5. Increase Round

When you finish your ribbing, you’ll easily switch to knitting with your bigger needles (I’ll show you how here) and start working in Stockinette stitch (St st). At the same time, you’ll increase evenly around the first round.

If you’re thinking of doing a different color for the hat than for the ribbing, watch this video to learn how to switch to a different color. You’ll want to do that now so that the increases aren’t the same color as the ribbing, which might look weird.

6. Making Stripes

Making stripes is quite easy: you just start knitting with the new color of yarn whenever you want.

But because we are knitting in the round, we’ll want to add a special trick to prevent a “jog” – a stair-step effect that happens at the spot where you join your yarn.

To create jogless stripes in the round, slip the first stitch of the second round of every stripe. Sound hard? Just watch the video below and you’ll see how simple it really is.

After you learn how to make stripes, you’ll continue to knit your hat following the pattern until it is 6 or 7 inches long, measured from the cast-on edge. The shorter length will give you a somewhat fitted hat. The longer length will give you a substantially slouchier hat.

You can also knit the whole hat in one color. It’s completely up to you!

7. Decreases

This section is full of great tips that will help you complete this and many more intermediate knitting projects.

You’ll first learn how to do a knit-two-together (k2tog) decrease. Then you’ll pay attention to what it looks like and use that information to know where to do your decreases and when.

Of course, it’s all written down in your pattern, so you’ll have a foolproof way to check in case you’re not sure.

8. Finishing

To bring your basic hat to a close, you’ll cut the yarn, leaving a long tail, and use a tapestry needle to draw it through the remaining stitches on your needles.

I’ll also show you how to invisibly and securely weave in your ends so you can proudly wear or give this hat as a gift.

9. Block Your Work

To make your knitted hat look its best, block it as the final step.

To block your hat, put it in a bowl with lukewarm water and some no-rinse wool wash, like Soak.

Let it soak for 20 minutes, then squeeze (don’t wring) the water out. You can press it in a towel to remove more water.

Lay your hat flat to dry, using your fingers to straighten edges and shape the piece to your liking.

Note: Blocking won’t have much effect on acrylic yarns, but you could run the item through the washer (not dryer) and lay flat to dry to help it look its best.

…And that’s it! Congratulations on knitting your first hat in the round on Magic Loop! Read on to hear me gush a little more about what a great job you did, and where to go from here.