Lucky Stars Beanie Pattern Review

I finished my Lucky Stars Beanie! 

I used Urth 16 Worsted for yarn and it’s kind of the whole reason I ended up knitting this pattern. I talked about it here when I knit a pair of gloves for my friend Ben, and I even mentioned the Lucky Stars Beanie. I’d seen the pattern before and liked it, but with my sensitive skin, I’m pretty picky about what I want sitting directly against my face. Urth 16 was one of those yarns that immediately felt like it could work for a beanie. When I went back to look at the Lucky Stars Beanie to see what weight yarn it used, I saw that Urth 16 was actually one of the recommended yarns for the pattern. 

This was my first double knitting project ever and I honestly enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. I’ve been sitting on $70 worth of Urth 16 for months because I just didn’t feel ready to learn a new technique yet. But once I finally brought myself to actually look at the pattern, I found it to be very approachable.

I almost didn’t appreciate how approachable this pattern was until I started working on the dot|top and was frustrated even doing the swatch because the pattern assumed I had all the knowledge on shadow knitting. I did not. And I didn’t have the knowledge on double knitting either but the Lucky Stars Beanie didn’t give me any grief about that. 

There are plenty of tutorial videos listed at the end of the pattern, including some from Norman at Nimble Needles, whom I love and learned how to make gloves from. I appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to seek these out myself, and that the pattern talked to me like I know how to knit, but might just be unfamiliar with double knitting. 

As far as knitting experience, overall it was slightly challenging in a fun way. The swatch I did on DPNs and it was miserable. The fabric seemed a little wonky and the experience was not that enjoyable, but I took that with a grain of salt and got started. 

Once I got all my stitches onto circular needles and actually started on the design, that’s when I started having fun. I think the circulars helped a lot with even tension on both sides, but either way I couldn’t imagine working the full hat with DPNs. I used both the picture chart and the written portion to follow along, crossing out lines on both parts when I finished a row. I tried starting with just a row counter and by row 12 I was second-guessing myself so I switched.

Shockingly enough, I only had to tink back about 3 times to fix a mistake. The same mistake every time actually—accidentally using the same color for both the knit and the purl on a corresponding stitch pair. Though, one of those times was on a decrease row while using DPNs, which made it feel especially brutal to go back.

The only thing that confused me with this pattern was the very tip of one of the stars. This only happens with the Size 1 chart and I didn’t see anyone on Ravelry talking about it, yet some people seemed to make this correction on their own. 

Following the chart exactly would’ve meant that the point of the star continued onto the decrease line. When I got to that point, I just couldn’t see how that was going to connect with the rest of the star. I felt like it would end up looking like a broken tip. What I ended up doing instead was shifting that 3-stitch column over 1 to the left and I feel like that produced a really nice result—the point of the star intact, tucked right up next to a clean decrease line.

I am so beyond proud of how this beanie turned out. It was a pretty quick knit—it only took me about a week to finish—and I feel like a lot of my time was spent admiring my project between rounds. It was so satisfying to watch the picture work up.

As far as a wearable object, I can be extremely picky about hats. I have a $5 Target beanie that I will wear until it falls apart. So there was a very big chance I put $70 worth of yarn and a week’s worth of work onto my head and hated it, but I don’t hate it. The more I try it on, the more I like it, but I do think there’s something to get used to with the high-contrast design right next to my face.

As far as a finished knitting project, I could not be more thrilled. Looking at this thing I feel nothing but pure, unadulterated pride. For my first attempt at double knitting, I genuinely can’t believe how clean it came out. I was especially worried that my tension would get wonky when I switched to DPNs for the decreases, but even the crown came out beautifully. The tension on both sides is nearly identical, making this thing truly reversible—which I have been very excited to demonstrate to basically anyone who will give me the time of day.

Look, it’s reversible!