How I Fix My Folded Brims in Place - Knitting in the Park

Learn How to Knit Your Brim Together Without a Provisional Cast On

I don’t like the provisional cast on. There, I said it. This cast on is a pain for me to work. I’m constantly worrying about it unraveling as I knit my project. And for ribbed edges it doesn’t work that well. I know, I could knit the first round. But I’ve found a way around using the provisional cast on and I’m sharing it with you here. Now you can learn how I fix my folded brims in place.

Most of the hat patterns that I offer here on this site, Etsy, Ravelry, LoveKnitting, etc. all feature a ribbed brim to some extent. The most popular brim that I use is the half twisted brim. This is worked by knitting through the back, and then purling. You continue to alternate these stitches around and around until your brim is the desired length.

Up close of a brim folded and knit in place.

Why Would You Want to Fix a Folded Brim in Place?

Personally, I don’t like having to constantly adjust my hats. Kids, and babies, it’s impossible. But the folded brim makes the hat warmer and that is a plus. So the solution to a warm hat that is easy to wear/kid friendly is to knit my folded brims in place. Don’t worry, this sounds more complicated than it actually is. I’m going to walk you through it step by step, and I’ll embed a video below.

How to Fix My Folded Brims in Place

When you cast on your stitches, use the long tail cast on method. This will help to define each stitch a bit and give you a bar or base to knit into. Then, knit the hat brim twice as long as you would like to be for the finished hat. I usually go for about five inches.

If you are following my pattern, or the pattern is a half twisted rib with a knit through the back loop or KTBL, fold the brim towards the inside of the hat.

Now, you’re ready to knit the cast on edge of the hat together with the live stitches. You can match up the exact stitches, or you can match up the mirror stitch. What I mean by this, is when you fold the brim inwards, you can line the “knits” up and line the “purls up” but because you are comparing different sides of your hat together you are actually matching the knits to the purls. If this is confusing don’t worry about it too much.

Use the video below to identify the base of each stitch from the cast on edge. You will pick up this base and place it on your left hand needle. Then, you can knit that together with the next live stitch on your left hand needle. This will fix your folded brims in place and give you a folded brim without any of the hassel.