Hip Knit Hats: 40 Fabulous Designs

by Cathy Carron

Every knitter will adore these timeless, fashionable, and extremely wearable hats, all photographed on models in a chic urban setting. Most of the projects involve knitting in the round, so a thorough overview explains the technique, as well as basic hat forms, choosing a yarn, and accessible techniques such as felting. Try a shaped ribbon yarn hat with equally decorative and functional earflaps. A simple brimmed felted wool hat becomes a fashion statement with a brightly colored decorative edging. Whip up a chunky seed stitch cap in just a matter of hours. Even the simplest designs are stylish, using great color combinations and yarns with irresistible textures. And, because the patterns come with both medium and large sizes, you can knit to fit.

Genres: Knitting, Crafts, Nonfiction, Reference

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jennifer Gee Conway]

I made the hat that's shown on the cover in black and brown. Good thing I have some experience and some knitter's common sense, as there was an error in the instructions that I managed to bypass. I love the hat and would consider making more from this book, even more hats of the same pattern in different colors, except that my cup runneth over with knitting patterns I want to try. Ideally all at the same time, and right now - but if I do come back to Hip Knit Hats, I'll take another look at "Clem," p. 136, "Skye," p. 124, "Ella," p. 104, and "Bette," p. 46. Also worth noting - the guide for what styles in the book complement which faces shapes.

[Katharine]

A tad too many tea cosies here - and mostly in chunky or bulky yarn. I am not a fan of top down construction but prefer rim up but "you say potaato and I say potaeto" so its a matter of preference. I didn't find anything here that popped off the page. The search continues....

[Kel]

Great hat patterns! I loved this book. :)

[Sarah]

This book makes me want to ask everyone I know if they have a large or medium head. There are so many hats I want to make. Everyone is getting a hat for their birthday and Christmas this year.

[PoligirlReads]

Big heads unite! I loved that Carron's motivation for this book was because she had a big head and wanted to create patterns to fit the large-noggined among us. You are a true hero for that. Also a hero for dedicating a section to picking hat styles based on face shape.

I was happy to see the skill levels provided--very helpful. Also nice that each of the patterns contain alternate versions (chunky vs bulky weight yarn, for example).

Carron was definitely influenced by the advent of "fun fur" yarn, and the result is that now many of the designs look dated. Some of the hats are really cool. Some...well, they look like the type of hat worn by a "crazy hat lady" trying to sell you power crystals and yarn she made out of carefully saved dryer lint. I'll give credit though for the sheer number of designs and for including methods like felting/fulling though. You don't often see that.

I knocked a point off due to all the top-down patterns. I get why that's the preference--it makes for a more accurately-sized hat--but boy is it a hassle. She does show some interesting cast on methods though.

[Ligaya]

This is my second knit hat book by Cathy Carron that I'm reading in my quest to expand by winter hat wardrobe. I did flag four designs to add to my to-knit list but I actually found many of the designs looked very similar. I did find the variations shown of the featured hat to be very helpful and realized that the yarn choices in these similar-looking hats was very important. Nice photographs show the knitter what's going on and construction is basic and smartly done.

[Laura]

This book was cool. I thought that they took a simple thing such as a hat and made it into something spectacular. I flagged 12 patterns in this book that I might want to knit someday. That is a lot, especially since I am pretty particular about what patterns I want to knit. I really liked this book. The layout was very inviting and friendly. I would recommend this book.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...

[Jennifer]

I have used two patterns in this book to make 4 different hats and I really like the patterns. The hats are knit from the top down which was new to me and I really liked making the hats that way. The other great thing about the book is that many of the patterns give you directions for the same hat in a different yarn weights. I LOVE THAT!

I lucked out and by chance bought the 5th edition of this book where a lot of the errata is corrected. If you get printings 1-4 you will want to go print out the three pages of errata from the publisher.

[Yvonne]

Some fun looking hats but I haven't made any!

[Marilee]

The hats in this book are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I made one that has a drawstring i-cord at the top. It was easy and fun to knit and there are a bunch of other hats in the book that I want to make.

[Chanelle]

I LOVE this book! There are so many great patterns and they can look so different depending on the yarn you use.

[Anna]

Nice designs but a few errata, and it was difficult to figure out adequate substitute yarns.

[Sandie]

while I haven't made anything from this book yet I really like the patterns

[Misty]

This is my favorite knitting book. Very simple patterns for a confident beginner. A nice selection of styles and techniques. Only caveat...If you have an early edition, look up the errata online.

[Sheila]

This book has quite a few nice basic hat patterns, but nothing outstandingly original. I'd recommend it for the beginning hat knitter.

[Margaret]

LOVE this book....lots of cute hat patterns, including felted hats. I'm putting it on my Christmas wish-list! :)

[Chant]

One of my favorite go to books, especially for all the baby hats I have been knitting lately. I just adapt the needle size and play with the yarns. I love this book!

[Sandy]

This is my favorite hat knitting book. I've made about ten hats from patterns in this book.

[Donna]

Beautiful hats but not for beginners.

[K.A. Jordan]

I'm looking forward to trying at least a few of these designs as my skill with knitting needles improves.

[Tilden]

Very creative hats in various shapes, colors, and yarns. It's amazing how a hat can change looks just by using different yarns in different colors.

[Mckinley]

Variety, some for men, mostly for women.

[Gabriella]

Lots of felted hats. No patterns that are my style.

[HadiDee]

Lovely book - I'm going to make the black/brown hat on the cover (at least that one)

[Martha]

creative, yet realistic & practical

[Barb]

Going to get going on one soon - Have been knitting hockey socks lately. They are fun.