Make A Hat Day!

Today is Make A Hat Day!  I thought it would be super cool to make a beret-style hat.  I've made a lot of beanies in my day, and I've made some fun sun-hat type hats, but I had never crocheted a beret before now.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Okay, that was a lie, I will tell you exactly what I was thinking.  I assumed that it would be simple to do and I could come up with something fun and cute and fast and put up a fun free pattern that you could do in a couple of hours.

You know what they say about the word assume...

This has been a complete labor of love.  It wasn't as simple as 'it goes out for a while, and then it comes back in'.  I had to stagger the decreases because lining up the decreases created a hat with points (think college graduation professor hats... Not the look I was going for...).   The first hat was based on a hat I had sewn a few years ago, but somehow translating the pattern into crochet caused  the dimensions became child-sized (so Mims looked cute in it, but it made my head look like a mushroom... Quite unattractive, and also not a look that I was aiming for...).  Finally I made the perfect beret!  Flattering!  Perfect shaping!  Fairly simple pattern that could be completed in a day (if you spent the whole day crocheting... But I took it as a victory anyway!)!  I was thrilled.  I had made it out of acrylic as my 'practice' beret, but when I went to make the 'real' version (ah, pattern testing!) I decided to make it out of wool.  Gorgeous autumnal-colored wool, something that would be warm and beautiful and wouldn't get pills before winter got here... I was so in love with the idea of my warm cozy beret, that I didn't even think that the wool worsted weight yarn might not necessarily work as a  substitution for the acrylic worsted weight yarn.  My acrylic yarn had been a slightly smaller worsted, and the wool was on the larger side of worsted.  I didn't notice until I was nearly done and thought, "Gee, this looks bigger than I remember..."  Yeah, the diameter was almost 3 inches larger!!!  Yikes!  So, I went back to the drawing board...

I refused to give up on my perfect beret, so this time I used the wool to design my perfect (and not gigantic) beret.  **Side note about hat design (skip to the next set of double asterisks if you don't care about the whys and only want the hows. I promise I won't judge you for wanting to get to the point!):  When you're designing a hat, you have to work with something called 'negative ease'.  Some of you who are sewers (seamstresses?) should be familiar with adding ease to a pattern to adjust the fit, but for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, ease is the difference between the measurements of your body and the measurements of the finished garment.  In sewing, you want to add a few inches to that body number so that your finished garment will allow you to sit down without ripping out the seams.

Now, crochet is cool, because it stretches.  We use that stretching ability to our benefit when we make crochet hats, which is where that negative ease comes in.  We use negative ease, taking an inch (or inch and a half) away from the head measurement so that we don't have a saggy, ill-fitting hat.   Who ever thought that going negative could be such a positive?!! So, even though this hat has a finished band of 20.5 inches, it will stretch to fit my head and it won't give me a headache.  Plus, it won't fall down over my eyes (and become the dreaded 'too slouchy'!) if I wear it for more that 10 minutes, because we're using negative ease. Okay, back to what I was saying before...**

Since I had four different patterns to show me what I shouldn't do, this last pattern (lucky number 5!) actually came together pretty quickly.  It really came down to measurements and math, which are much easier to work with when you've already worked out the aesthetics part of the design.  It is my absolutely favorite hat that I've ever made. I am sure that there will be other hats in my future, but this one was so hard fought that it will always be special to me.

Dynamite Beret!
finished hat diameter across top is approximately 12"
Supplies:
210 yards of worsted weight yarn (I used Paton Classic Wool - worsted 100% wool yarn in Jade Heather)
Size G crochet hook
Yarn needle
Scissors
Approximately 30 inches of 7/8" grosgrain ribbon in coordinating color (I used black)

R1: in a magic loop, 8 hdc, pull loop snug and sl st to first hdc to close round (8 st)
R2: ch 1, 2 hdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to close round (16 st)
R3: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (24 st)
R4: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 2 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (32 st)
R5: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 3 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (40 st)
R6: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 4 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (48 st)
R7: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 5 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (56 st)
R8: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 6 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (64 st)
R9: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 7 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (72 st)
R10: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 8 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (80 st)
R11: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 9 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (88 st)
R12: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 10 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (96 st)
R13: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 11 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (104 st)
R14: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 12 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (112 st)
R15: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 13 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (120 st)
R16: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 14 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (128 st)
R17: ch 1, 7 hdc, (hdc next 2 st tog, 14 hdc) 7 times, hdc next 2 st tog, 7 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round (120 st)
R18: ch 1, (hdc next 2 st tog, 13 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (112 st)
R19: ch 1, 6 hdc, (hdc next 2 st tog, 12 hdc) 7 times, hdc next 2 st tog, 6 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round (104 st)
R20: ch 1, (hdc next 2 st tog, 11 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (96 st)
R21: ch 1, 5 hdc, (hdc next 2 st tog, 10 hdc) 7 times, hdc next 2 st tog, 5 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round (88 st)
R22: ch 1, (hdc next 2 st tog, 9 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (80 st)
R23: ch 1, 4 hdc, (hdc next 2 st tog, 8 hdc) 7 times, hdc next 2 st tog, 4 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round (72 st)
R24: ch 1, (hdc next 2 st tog, 7 hdc) 8 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (64 st)
R25: ch 1, ch 1, 3 hdc, (hdc next 2 st tog, 6 hdc) 7 times, hdc next 2 st tog, 3 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round (56 st)
R26: ch 3, skip st, (dc in next st, ch 1, skip st) 27 times, sl st to 2nd beginning ch to close round (56 st)
R27: ch 1, 2 sc in each ch space around, sl st to first sc to close round (56 st)
Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

Weave the grosgrain ribbon between the dc bars of R26.  Tie the ends in a cute bow!  Trim ribbon ends at an angle and seal cut ends with a lit match to keep them from fraying.

**A note about yarns:  I used 4 different colors of the same brand of wool yarn.  Each one was labeled 210 yards.  The first hat had about 10 yards of yarn left over when I finished.  The second and third skeins had approximately 4 yards of yarn left over.  The fourth skein was short about 4 yards, which necessitated ripping the hat out about 10 rows and switching to an F hook to re-crochet the hat in a smaller gauge.

So, what does this mean?  First off, it means that when label bands say 'approx' in front of the yardage number they really mean it!!  Second, if you KNOW that you're a 'loose' crocheter, I would totally switch to an F hook before you start, so that your hat doesn't become too large, and you won't run out of yarn before you finish.  Third, if you're one of the unlucky ones with the 'short' skein, it completely sucks, but rip it back to where you sl st the end of R16 together, swap your G hook for and F hook, and complete the hat with the smaller hook.  It won't be noticeably smaller, and you should have enough yarn to complete the project. **

Or, if you don't want to make it yourself, you can buy one at my new shop.  Grab one quickly if you want it, because I only have 3 available.

xoxo