I’ve totally mentioned this before, but every time I do someone says ‘holy crap why didn’t I know that sooner,’ so I’m doing it again.  If you have a hat with fast decreases (the kind that sort of bunch the fabric up on the top of your head), it can be hard to know how tall the hat needs to be before you can start the decreases.

The thing that works for me every time is to put the stitches on two long needles and try the hat on.  Looks ridiculous, but if it’s long enough like this, it will be long enough when you wear it.  It looks silly, but it’s better than knitting the decreases, trying it on, realizing it’s too short, and ripping back (especially in laceweight mohair brioche…that’s not fun to rip).

Now, this one isn’t long enough for how I like my hats, but it’s getting close.  Couple more repeats and we should be there!