Stitches

How many stitches would I have to cast on for a hat?

I'm trying to knit an adults hat, unfortunately I've completely forgotten how many stitches to cast on. I'm using 4mm needles, and 50g/184yards yarn. I thought it would be about 80 stitches, but that doesn't seem like enough? I'm planning to knit a small ribbed band of about 3 cm, and then use purl stitch.

Public Comments

1. According to my wife, 80 would barely fit a baby. Her beanies usually have 128 stitches for a woman's size and 134 for a man.
2. The average adult head is 21"-23" around. Usually you want a bit of negative ease so the hat will stay on, so say 20"-22" around. You need to know how many stitches per inch you will knit with the yarn and needles you plan to use in the stitch pattern you plan to use. Everything matters--the yarn, the needles, the stitch pattern, and your tension as well as the number of stitches. I just finished knitting two adult-sized hats. I used US size 5 (3.75 mm) needles and worsted-weight superwash wool for both. One of them is 120 stitches worked in 2 x 2 rib. The other is 110 stitches worked in seed stitch. The seed-stitch hat will fit a large man's head. The rib stitch hat will fit a medium to large head--it's tighter even though it has more stitches because the rib pulls in more than the seed stitch.