This article will go over how to make a boiled wool beanie using a knitting loom. This was a project I had been wanting to try out for some time, and with winter fast approaching, I decided it was a good time to give it a go. I’m pretty happy with the results, so I decided to share the process I used.

For those who are unfamiliar, a knitting loom is a hoop with pegs around the perimeter. The pegs hold the yarn and make knitting beanies and other items easy, even if you’ve never knitted before. In the past, I had tried making some hats with a knitting loom, but the knit pattern was pretty loose, making them more suited as a fashion item than a serious piece of outdoor gear. Then I learned about boiled wool, and realized that might be the solution.

Boiling wool, also called fulling, is a process that has been used for hundreds of years to increase the warmth and weather-resistance of wool fabrics. The process is simple, a knitted wool fabric is agitated in boiling water until the fibers shrink and stick together. The loops of the fabric tighten up, creating an almost felt like appearance. The result is a dense fabric that is better at blocking wind and water than the original knit fabric.

Unboiled wool on the left vs. boiled on the right.

This method was traditionally used to make mittens, coats, and other items meant for use in extreme cold. Here is a link to an interesting article that details how fisherman in New England made boiled wool mittens to keep their hands warm while fishing during the frigid winters.

This tutorial will focus on making a beanie / stocking cap, but the same boiling process could be used with any knitted item.

Knitting the hat on a loom makes this a project that people with no knitting experience can complete, but if knitting with needles is a skill you already possess, that method will work just as well.

Materials Needed:

For this project you’ll need a knitting loom and pick, and some yarn.

Choosing a loom:

Knitting looms are available from craft stores and are relatively inexpensive. Some knitting looms are circular and labeled as “hat looms”, but a rectangular loom will work as well. Don’t be deceived by the size of the loom. The hat will turn out smaller than the loom it is made on. Also, in our case, because we plan to shrink the hat during the fulling process, it must be made even larger than the intended size. This means that even the largest standard “hat loom” may not be large enough to make the oversized hat needed for this project.

I recommend an adjustable loom. These are available in different configurations, but the one I used consists of separate pieces that can snap together to increase or decrease the number of pegs (linked at the end of the article).

Hat loom with pick on the left. Adjustable loom on the right.

Yarn:

Choose a yarn that is 100% wool. I used “Patons Classic Wool Worsted” and it worked well. One skein (194 yds) was enough yarn to make a hat. Avoid acrylic yarn, as it doesn’t shrink. Also be aware that there are some wool yarns, such as those labeled as “super wash,” that have been specially treated to not shrink, avoid those as well. If you have any doubts about whether a specific yarn will work with the fulling process, knit a small swatch and test it using the process detailed below.

Determining what size to make the hat

The hat will shrink by 15-40% when fulled, so the hat needs to be made larger than the intended finished size. Fulling wool can be unpredictable. Several factors affect how much shrinkage will occur, including the type of yarn and stitch used, as well as how long it is boiled. For this reason, it is a good idea to make a sample swatch and test it before starting on the hat.

To do this, use the loom to knit a small swatch using the same yarn and stitch you plan to use for the hat. (You can knit back and forth on a small section on the loom rather than going all the way around it.)

Keep track of how many pegs on the loom were used to make the swatch. Once you have knitted a piece that is about 6” long, remove it from the loom. Measure its width and length and write it down. Next, full the swatch using the method explained below. Measure the swatch after it has been fulled and dried, and compare it to its original size. This should give you an idea of how much the hat will shrink, and also help you determine how many pegs to use for making the hat.

You can see in the example above that the width of the swatch shrunk by about 20%. The length really didn’t change much. (It looks longer in the after photo, but that is only because it had curled on itself in the before photo.) I have found that generally the shrinkage occurs mostly in the width.

In this case I determined that I needed to make the diameter of the hat about 20% larger than what I wanted the finished size to be. The height could be made to the correct size, because that didn’t change much.

The number of pegs used to make the swatch, helped me determine how many pegs would be needed for the hat. (This is a rough calculation to be sure. The finished hat will be stretchy and the shrinkage rate can vary, but this at least gave me a starting point.)

Knitting the hat

The process of knitting the hat is pretty straightforward. Begin by tying the end of the yarn to the horizontal peg with a slip knot. Wrap the yarn around each peg in a clockwise direction. (The yarn should cross itself on the inside of the loom.)

Continue wrapping the yarn around the pegs in the same direction until a second row of loops is wrapped above the first. Use the pick to lift the lower loop up and over the top loop. This process is repeated over and over and a knitted tube is gradually formed through the center of the loom. After several rows have been knitted, the original slip knot should be untied.

After the tube has reached several inches long, you can form a brim on the bottom of the hat by bringing the bottom edge of the tube up through the center of the loom and looping the edge over the pegs. Then continue knitting.

When the hat has reached the desired length, cut the yarn off leaving a tail that is several inches long. Cut another piece of yard that is about twice the diameter of the loom. Use the pick to pull this strand of yarn up through the loop on every peg. (This keeps the hat from unraveling when it is removed from the loom.) Remove the hat from the loom and pull the tails of the yarn like a drawstring to pull the top edge of the hat closed. Tie off the tails on the inside of the hat.

I found that watching this process was easier to understand than reading about it, so I have linked to several Youtube videos that I thought were helpful:

HOW TO LOOM KNIT Step by Step Loom Knitting for Beginners

Making a hat on a knitting loom

Loom knitting stitches for beginners

Note: There are several different “stitches” or ways of wrapping the pegs that can be used for loom knitting. Any of them should work for this project, although the rates of shrinkage will vary with each. The “E wrap” is probably the most common, and is what is shown in the photos above. I used the “U wrap” for this project. Also, some tutorials talk about using two strands of yarn at the same time. I only used one strand to make the hat shown in the photos.

Fulling the Hat

Note: The fulling process can be controlled by how long the object is boiled, or how many times the process is repeated. It is possible to continue the process until the fabric becomes very dense and matted, and the stitches become almost unidentifiable. In this state, the fabric is much less elastic, but very water and wind resistant. This can be desirable for mittens, but less so for a beanie, which should be comfortable and elastic. I tried to find a middle ground when fulling the beanie, stopping the process when the stitches had tightened considerably, but the fabric still had some elasticity.

Once you are finished knitting the hat, it is ready to be fulled. Place the hat in a large pot of boiling water. The pot should be large enough that the hat can be completely submerged. Boil the hat for about 5 minutes using a spoon or tongs to agitate the hat and keep it under the water. (If the yarn has been dyed, some of the dye may leach out into the boiling water, but this shouldn’t be a cause for worry.)

After about five minutes, carefully remove the hat from the water and lay it out on a towel. Measure the hat to see if it has shrunk to the desired size. If not, it can be placed back in the water for more boiling, or you can finish the shrinking process in the clothes dryer. I prefer the latter, because it’s easier to pull the hat out of the dryer to check on the shrinking process, than it is from the boiling water. The dryer also seems to do a better job fluffing up the wool fibers.

Check size after boiling for 5 minutes. In this case more time was needed, and the hat was finished in the clothes dryer

Place the wet hat in the clothes dryer on high heat. Check the size every few minutes. Remember that if the hat is too large you can continue to shrink it, but once it is too small, it is impossible to make it bigger again. Be vigilant, checking the size every few minutes until it has reached the desired size. In my experience the wool seems to shrink faster as it gets drier. If the hat gets completely dry and still hasn’t shrunk enough, soak it again in hot water and keep drying.

Once the hat reaches the desired size, remove it from the dryer and lay it out flat on a towel so it can finish drying.

The finished hat, after the fulling process.

And that’s it, the hat is complete. In my case, as a finishing touch, I folded a small piece of grosgrain ribbon around the bottom edge of the hat, and stitched it it place. Purely decorative, this faux “label” is a fun way to add some visual interest, or an accent color.