Knitting The Capitol Hat – Tips for the Perfect Fit!

This week Kelley whipped up The Capitol hat by Hinterm Stein. This pattern is a lovely celebration of our country's historical architecture and is a part of a series of "Domes around the World"! It's a fairly easy pattern using twisted and wrapped stitches to replicate the Capitol dome. Kelley used a discontinued yarn to knit her hat, but she recommends using our natural Bravo Alpaca to whip up this hat. Alpaca is one of the warmest natural fibers and is our favorite fiber for winter hats! For needles, Kelley used the 16" Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles. 

Modifications for a Better Hat Fit

Want to make sure your knit hats fit your head? Kelley recommends looking at your favorite hats you already have and take note of why you like their fit. Is it the length? Circumference? Thickness?

The Capitol hat uses a five stitch repeat, so you can easily increase the width of the hat if needed by adding more repeats of the pattern. If you want to use a chunkier yarn than the sport weight the pattern calls for, use less pattern repeats. 

Kelley wanted a longer fit to the hat instead of leaving her ears exposed. To do this, she added repeats to the bottom and top columns of the hat. 

Here's a photo of the completed hat with these modifications. 

Are you knitting this hat? Check out the video above for tips on the different stitches it uses and how to make fit modifications.