How much yarn for a crochet hat? Baby to adult, from 12 patterns

The quick answer, by size

Find the head size in the table and read across to your yarn weight. The range covers every pattern we found for that size, and the number in brackets is the middle value. If your pattern gives its own quantity, go with the pattern.

Head sizes for the other rows are from the Craft Yarn Council’s head circumference chart, which the UK knitting designer Jane Burns also uses in her size guide. The chart gives no ages; Jane Burns’s version labels the baby band 0 to 12 months, and we start it at 3 months because the first row covers newborns. For that first row we’ve used Hanjan Crochet’s 0 to 3 month head of 13 to 14 inches. The DK rows rest on two or three patterns each, so treat them as a guide. Most of the aran rows have more patterns behind them and a wider spread.

Where the numbers come from

We opened each pattern page and noted the sizes and the yarn quantity the designer gives. Where a pattern gives yards, we converted to metres. Where it gives only grams, we used the yarn’s metres per gram from the same page. Then we divided by 2.95 for Stylecraft Special DK (295m per 100g) or 1.96 for Special Aran (196m per 100g) to get grams in those yarns.

Most of the aran-weight patterns call for worsted. We’ve grouped worsted with aran because that’s how the patterns themselves describe their yarns, but worsted can run a little finer. We haven’t crocheted these hats ourselves. The quantities are the designers’ own, and every pattern is linked at the bottom of this page.

Will one 100g ball make an adult hat?

In Stylecraft Special DK, yes. The largest DK quantity we found was 270 yards (247m) for an adult large ribbed beanie by Delia Creates. That’s 84g of Special DK, leaving about 48m spare. Rhondda Mol of Oombawka Design says the same of her DK hat: one 300m ball of Scheepjes Colour Crafter covers every size from preemie to adult large.

In Stylecraft Special Aran, only sometimes. Hookfully’s No Drama Men’s Beanie is written for Special Aran and asks for 68g. But the textured Hazel Beanie from The Loophole Fox needs 298 yards (272m) for adult large, which is about 139g of Special Aran. Across the aran and worsted patterns, seven adult medium and large quantities came in at 110 to 174m and seven ran from 201 to 272m. If you’re making an adult hat in aran, buy two balls unless your pattern says one is enough.

Why grams vary more than metres

Two 100g balls of DK can hold different lengths. Delia Creates uses Knit Picks Swish DK, which has 112m in 50g. Her adult large hat at 247m comes to about 110g of Swish DK, but only 84g of Stylecraft Special DK, which packs 295m into 100g.

So convert a pattern’s quantity to metres first, then divide by your own yarn’s metres per gram. A quantity given in balls or grams only holds for the yarn the designer used.

Pompoms and contrast brims

Several of these hats are topped with a bought fur pompom, including the Kelsey and Willow Ridge beanies, so their totals include no yarn for one. For The Frills is one of the few designers to give a figure. She lists the pompom apart from the beanie: about 20g for an 8cm pompom and about 35g for a 10cm one, in worsted merino. If your pattern doesn’t mention pompom yarn, assume it isn’t in the total.

That matters at the top of the DK range. An 84g adult hat plus a 20g pompom is 104g, which tips you into a second ball. A middle adult large, 210m or 71g, plus 20g still fits in one ball at 91g. For a contrast brim or stripes, budget each colour as its own line and round each up to whole balls. The yarn-by-colour guide shows how.

Pick the size from a head measurement

Measure around the widest part of the head, just above the ears and across the forehead, as Jane Burns suggests. The Craft Yarn Council chart puts a baby’s head (0 to 12 months on Jane Burns’s version) at 35.5 to 40.5cm, a toddler’s at 40.5 to 46cm, a woman’s at 53 to 58.5cm and a man’s at 56 to 61cm.

A finished hat is usually smaller than the head so it grips. Woolly Wormhead puts this negative ease at 5 to 7.5cm, or roughly 12%. Hanjan Crochet’s adult medium, for example, fits a 22 inch head but measures 19 inches round. Use the head measurement to choose the size, not the hat measurement.

Weigh the ball as you go

Weigh your ball before you start, then again once the brim is done or at the halfway point. The difference tells you how fast you’re using yarn, and whether the rest of the ball will finish the hat.

A small digital scale also tells you what part-balls in your stash will still make. If a leftover weighs 60g of Special DK, that’s 177m, enough for any child size in the DK column. Put any shortfall into the yarn budget calculator to see how many balls to buy.

Common questions

Sources and scope

• www.hanjancrochet.com/dk-crochet-hat-pattern/
• crochetdreamz.com/simple-beanie-hat-crochet-pattern/
• www.deliacreates.com/classic-ribbed-crochet-beanie/
• maisieandruth.com/easy-crochet-baby-hat-a-free-pattern/
• forthefrills.com/crochet-easy-tapered-beanie-free-pattern/
• theloopholefox.com/free-crochet-beanie-pattern/
• theloopholefox.com/easy-crochet-hat-pattern/
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-arctic-beanie
• blog.bellacococrochet.com/how-to-crochet-a-beginner-friendly-beanie-in-8-different-sizes/
• www.hanjancrochet.com/free-crochet-beanie-pattern-all-sizes/
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/no-drama-mens-beanie-crochet-pattern-by-hookfully
• www.hookedonhomemadehappiness.com/kids-vintage-hat-crochet-pattern-cal-for-a-cause/
• oombawkadesigncrochet.com/dk-double-crochet-hat-pattern/
• www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/knit-picks-swish-dk
• www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/mary-maxim-mellowspun-dk
• www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/premier-yarns-basix-dk
• www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/head-circumference-chart
• janeburns.co.uk/baby-childrens-knitting-size-guide-measurements/
• woollywormhead.com/blog/2009/09/26/hat-sizing-guide
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-dk
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-aran

Sources checked 1 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.