Knit a Hat: A Beginner's Guide to Knitting Paperback – September 8, 2020

Grab this book and head to a yarn store. It has everything you need to know to learn the basics of knitting. Make a neat, useful hat for yourself, your family, your friends. Drop your materials in your bag and take it with you wherever you go. Knit at work, on the bus. Too many hats? Impossible! Give them to those who need one. Drop them at your local public schools and libraries. Make tiny ones for NICU babies (check for regulations first).Knitting brings your BP down, calms you, relaxes you and uses your skill and talent.Try it.

Excellent source to begin your hat knitting experience. Much encouragement throughout the whole process. I'm very glad that I purchased this book and am working on a hat right now.

This book would be improved by adding a swatch for DK yarn and No 7 needles and likewise a better discussion on measuring a head. However, for a beginner it’s a good, basic starter book that ends with a wearable product for the user!

The book meets expectations. To knitters who never knitted before, or to knitters who know how to knit but just returned to knitting, or to knitters who want to understand the basic construction of a knitted hat, and take it from here and progress, it’s a perfect book. Everything is explained very clearly and methodically. Plus I enjoyed it very much.

I was the target audience for this book. I wanted to get started with knitting but just wasn't interested in scarves or other assorted rectangles. I found the book somewhat helpful, but flawed in a few ways that prevent me from recommending itThe tack that this book takes is one of giving the reader the absolute minimum amount of knowledge required to knit a hat with a garter stitch band and stockinette body from start to finish as a first project. I understand this from a pedagogical standpoint. If a new knitter is able to crank out something they can actually wear very quickly, they'll gain pride and confidence and be much more likely to stick with the hobby.But if building confidence is the goal, I don't understand the tone of the lessons. The reader is always given the impression that what they're reading about is much harder than it actually is. I personally found that this tone hampered my development as a knitter. For example, the purl is a fundamental knitting stitch and is not difficult, but you wouldn't believe it from reading this book. In fact, I didn't, and when I finally worked up the courage to learn purling after this book scared me away from it, the experience was underwhelming to say the least.Obviously I'm not a knitting teacher and maybe this approach is the most effective one on average, but I did not find it helpful. Unfortunately, the effects of this approach go beyond simply the presentation of the material, but the choice of which techniques to present as well. The book opts to present the backwards loop cast on method, ostensibly due to its simplicity (though that doesn't stop the author from reassuring the reader that it's not as hard as it looks). This cast-on method, despite being easy to learn and perform, is not easy at all to work with. Attempting my first knits with this method caused me a great deal of frustration, ending with me eventually taking to Google and learning the long-tail cast on method from a video. The long-tail cast on is only slightly more complicated than the backwards loop while being more widely used in beginner knitting patterns and much easier to work with, especially for new knitters like me who haven't yet learned to control their tension. In this case, the attempt to baby the reader with only the simplest techniques backfired, and hurt my confidence quite a bit.Am I glad I bought this book? Yes, since despite its flaws it was the catalyst that got me into this hobby. But would I recommend it to a friend who wants to get into knitting? For the reasons described above, I would not.

This book is not a book on how to knit hats. It is a lengthy book with a lot fluff, a lot of political agenda, one pattern

I like the clear language and simplicity of designs. I have grandchildren who have just made hats on straight needles and was looking for clarification for next steps in transitioning them to circular needles.

Great way to learn the basics of knitting a hat.

If you are a beginner in knitting, the book is very useful.It gives clear and easy to follow instructions.

This book is different to all other beginners knitting books I have. Instead of being minutely prescriptive (and therefore overwhelming), it introduces knitting in a simple ‘get in and go with it’ manner, emphasising that if you make a mistake, it’s not the end of your knitting career. It also explains basic things about knitting that other books seem to think you know already, which of course, as a beginner you don’t. It covers knitting, purling and decreasing (using circular needles and DPNs) - the only skills you need to know to knit a simple hat. The style is chatty but informative. And once you have knitted the basic hat, it recommends you try slightly more complicated versions. Once you have mastered the hat knitting skills taught in this book, you will have tools you need to launch your knitting career in limitless directions. It’s great.