Sidewinder Beanie Yarn Substitution Experiment

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A friend of mine saw a beautiful hat knitted out of super bulky yarn in a boutique and it was retailing at $75! Wow! We went in search of a similar pattern and we landed on the Sidewinder Beanie by Aspen Leaf Knits as the closest match. (And the pattern only costs $6 to download, so that’s basically the bargain of the century!)

The Sidewinder Beanie is knitted in the round with swirling panels of seed stitch on a background of stockinette – it’s really gorgeous and looks absolutely fabulous in bulky, single-ply style yarns like Malabrigo Rasta. The download comes with two sets of instructions: one for bulky yarn and one for super bulky yarn and the instructions are really easy to follow. The only mildly complicated part of the pattern is the right twist stitch, but there is a photo tutorial for it in the pattern and links to a video tutorial too, so no sweat!

Here is my first Sidewinder:

As I said above, the hat looks gorgeous in a single-ply yarn like Rasta, but I wanted to start knitting it immediately so I decided to experiment with some plied bulky yarn I had in my stash (Knit Picks Mighty Stitch Bulky). I like how it turned out, but it doesn’t have the same stunning beauty as the sample hats. Also, from a practical standpoint, I don’t think the plied yarn fills out the stitches as much as a single ply yarn does. I like my winter hats to be super air-tight and the fabric I knitted was a little too “airy” for my liking. (However, from another practical standpoint, this fiber is machine washable!)

After this experiment, I decided that I would try knitting it again with plied yarn, but this time I tried to use super bulky yarn with the bulky yarn pattern instructions… and that didn’t work out too well… though stay tuned for a post featuring what is now a Sidewinder cowl!

My next experiment is going to be to try the bulky instructions again, but hold a strand of the plied bulky and a strand of plied worsted together so I can get a less breezy weave on the fabric. Then, I’m gonna drag myself to the yarn shop and buy some Rasta so I can knit it the right way!

Now for this hat, here are the details!

yarn details

Knit Picks Mighty Stitch in Canary (the bulky weight has disappeared off of the Knit Picks and Crochet.com websites, but you can still find Worsted or Super Bulky)
Bulky Weight
80% Acrylic 20% Superwash Wool
Machine Wash, Tumble Dry Low
100 g/136 yd balls
Purchased in July 2022

project details

pattern: “Sidewinder Beanie” by Aspen Leaf Knits (Buy on Etsy or via Ravelry)
size knit: Bulky
needles: US size 9 (5.5 mm), wood interchangeable circulars (these ones are nice and pointy and the yarn doesn’t slip!)
gauge: Super hard to measure gauge on the finished hat and I didn’t knit a separate swatch. But on the size 9 needles it looks like I’m getting a smidge over 4 stitches in an inch in the stockinette part.
yarn used: 79 yards (58 grams)
finished size: height is about 8” laid flat on the table and the diameter of the patterned part of the hat is about 7.5” with the hat laid flat and not stretched at all
duration: August 13-14, 2022