A fun and different way to knit hats: from the top down.

This is not a standard pattern book — it’s a complete recipe for making your own custom-fit hats, for any head, with any yarn. Just grab a skein and start knitting!

The recipe includes all the instructions and numbers for knitting three styles of hat with three choices of brim style, in thirteen gauges and seventeen sizes, covering preemies to XL adult heads. And if those don’t cover your needs, the formulas are included so you can calculate your own.

Photo tutorials and guidance on fit and yarn help you make your first hat perfect. For experienced hat knitters, the advice on customization and straightforward but powerful formulas empower you to get designing.

The book steps you through the whole process: from choosing yarn and determining size right through to finishing, with tutorials for all the key knitting techniques – casting on, working in the round, stretchy and decorative bind-offs, even weaving in the ends. There’s a whole chapter with ideas and instructions for customizing the hat with colour, changing up the brim pattern and style, and adding decorative flourishes like pom-poms and tassels.

Don’t worry, a yardage table will help you make sure you’ve got enough yarn, and there’s lots of tips and tricks for what to do if you think you’re going to run out, and how to use up small quantities of yarn leftovers.

Whether you’re a hat novice or an experienced knitter of headwear, this book has something for you.

Kate Atherley is a sought-after instructor and the author of six knitting books. She lives in Toronto.

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"Custom Fit Hats is the perfect resource for independent knitters who would rather skip the pattern and knit their own customized creations. Atherley carefully walks through each step of the hat-knitting process with all the information that knitters of all levels would find beneficial. Adventurous beginners will find the step-by-step process very informative. More advanced knitters will find that the one-page, no-frills reference pattern may be all they need to guide them while completing their hat." – Cast On Magazine