knitters? please advise.

I took a short break from knitting and started up again about a month or so ago. I decided to make a long, skinny red scarf with the "Annoying Rollerderby Chick" yarn I got from banadura and really like the way it came out. The photos I took of it are horrendous, but I love the scarf and that's all that matters.

I taught screen printing on Saturday to three awesome ladies and during our down time [waiting for screens to dry] we talked about our other crafty endeavors, including knitting/crochet. As some of you may know, one of my students, StrawberryLemonade, has both knit and crochet skillz! I have tried to crochet, and can start it off alright, but not actually join anything together without making one big knot.

Anyway, it was really nice to talk to people who feel the same way about art and work and things of that nature. I know, how vague, right? It was good though, and that's that.

So I watched the movie "Happy Endings" last night, and I love Maggie G. as an actress and the movie itself was pretty good. I wanted to try knitting in the round again and actually got the tension right on my first try this time! I happily knit and knit through the movie and when it was over I had the 4-5 inches that I needed before being able to decrease my stitches, and realized that my "hat" was probably wide enough to make a tube sweater bra or something. Not at all what I was going for, obviously, but what the heck?! I totally cast on 58 stitches like the general easy beginner hat pattern told me to! Arg. I am going to have to consult some of my etsy team knit pros to figure out how many I should try when I get this baby all unraveled!

I just measured the base of the hat, and it is a whopping 43 inches wide! My head is only about 21-22 inches! Eek. Help! I need to brush up on the math involved in knitting I guess?