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 Crocheted hats are my go-to project. I make at least 5 hats
for every other project I manage to complete. They make incredible presents that
recipients of all ages love; there are an infinite variety of patterns; and
they are fast. Consequently, I am always looking for new hat ideas. Whenever I
see a new stitch pattern my first thought is, "What would that look like as a
hat."
However incorporating a new stitch pattern into a hat can seem
like a daunting challenge. You have to take into account the shaping at the
crown and the accompanying math that invariably accompanies shaping. But it's really
much simpler than it appears. Robyn Chachula cleverly walks through the steps
in her new video, Design Your Own
Crocheted Hat.
After reviewing her process, I decided to give it a whirl
for myself. I pulled out the Harmony
Guide: Basic Crochet Stitches and found an easy stitch pattern I liked. The
Block and Offset Shell Stitch is perfect for Robyn's method because you can
easily decrease and increase the number of stitches in each shell and the
number of double crochets between each shell-we'll talk more about that in a
few minutes.
I chose some bright Red Heart Super Soft, my crochet hook,
a pen, and some graph paper and got to work. After a few false starts, I ended
up with a fun, lacy patterned hat, perfect for a precocious toddler. I might
make a few more tweaks to this pattern, but I loved the experience. Let me walk
you through my adventure; then you can grab your own stitch pattern and create
your own unique pattern.
 The first step to incorporating a new stitch pattern into a
hat is to create a gauge swatch. I used a size I/9 (5.5 mm) hook and Red Heart
Simply Soft. I ended up with a gauge of 4 rows equals 3". Then I looked at the
stitch pattern. The stitch pattern needed to be able to have stitches removed
and then added back in later as increases. If I worked a series of three double
crochets instead of four between the shells and three double crochets instead
of four in each shell and then increased to four double crochets in each on the
next round, I could account for two increase rounds.
For a toddler's hat, I knew that I needed the diameter of
the increase portion of the hat to be 5". According to my gauge, two rows in my
pattern would equal 1 ½". That meant I would need to work a 3 ½" in diameter
crown in single crochet before beginning my stitch pattern increase rows.
 My modified first row of the stitch pattern had a multiple
of 8 stitches. This meant that when my single crochet increases for the crown
were finished I would need to end with a multiple of eight stitches. This is
actually fairly easy to do. Just begin the crown with eight single crochets and
work your increases as normal for a hat from there. Each row will then increase
by eight stitches.
After I had reached a diameter of 3 ½", I worked the Row 1
of my modified pattern, then Row 2. After I had worked Row 2, I had the desired
number of stitches and diameter, so I continued to repeat Row 2 until my hat
reached about 7". If I had wanted to create a child-sized hat, I would have
worked another increase row, working five double crochets in each shell and
between each shell.
Now I can't wait to try this method again with another
stitch pattern; I'm hooked. Order Design
Your Own Crocheted Hat with Robyn Chachula today and discover the creative
joy of designing your own hat.
Best wishes,
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