Rowan Cotton Tape for Knitty's Topi?

[KristiMetz]

My mom liked the Topi (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/PATTtopi.html) hat in the current issue of Knitty that I made for myself.

She wants me to make her one, and she lives in Florida so it needs to be a nice and cool hat to protect her head while she's out at the beach and such.

I was wondering if anyone thinks I could use Rowan Cotton Tape (http://secure.elann.com/productdisp.asp?NAME=Rowan+Cotton+Tape&Season=&Company=&Cat=Bargains&ProductType=5&OrderBy=+Order+By+Bargain+Desc&Count=298), which is on closeout at elann right now.

It looks like it would be a great yarn to use for this purpose, but it's a completely different gauge. The pattern gives a little instruction in the description on what to do with a different gauge yarn, but there isn't anything on the brim - I wouldn't be sure how many stitches to bind off to start the brim and then what kind of short rows to do for the brim.

As a matter of fact, I'm not familiar with this yarn at all so I'm not even sure if it's advisable to do a hat in it!!!

Any advice for me? Would this yarn be a good choice? If so, what kind of mods to the brim should I try to make?

[JessicaSant]

on the weekends I moonlight at Eastern Mountain Sports (http://www.ems.com). Its all outdoorsy stuff.

One of the first things I tell people when they come into the store and are looking for a "cool" fabric: Don't wear cotton. When cotton gets wet, it stays wet. It doesn't help you stay cool and is just all around bad news. You want to wear poly fibers or light wool -- that will help wick sweat away from your skin and keep you cool and dry.

So just a thought -- but if you'd like to keep your mom cool in the hot sweaty Florida sun -- avoid the cotton :)

Good luck!