Falling Snow - Basic Crochet Hat Pattern

Today I posted a pic on my Facebook showing the hat I recently made for my son Phoenix, and people seemed to really love it, so I thought that I'd post instructions for how I made it :-)

This hat was crocheted using Thin Chenille yarn in Baby Blue. Such as this, or alternatively, this for a darker blue. The thickness of the yarn doesn't really matter except that a thicker yarn is going to work up bigger and may need more yarn. I do not remember how much I had of this yarn, but I am going to guess that for the hat and the scarf both, I probably used 3-4 skeins. Always buy more than you think you'll need :-D

I also used a wonderfully soft white yarn that is so delightful to touch that I ALMOST didn't want to let Phoenix have the hat when he was done! It's called Sinsations, and I can totally understand why it's called that since it is SINFULLY soft!!! This yarn is expensive, but I only used one skein for the hat and the scarf, so it's totally worth buying :-D

I used an H-8 5.00 MM hook. If using thicker yarn and desiring a bigger hat, use a bigger hook.

To start, chain 20. This is equal to 10 for the front of the hat and 10 for the back of the hat. If you fold this chain in half and hold it next to your ear and it doesn't seem long enough to cover your ear, then add more. If it covers your ear, you'll be fine :-) (I mean the ear of the person you are making the hat for OR a person of similar size.)

Chain one more for the turning chain. Turn and then:
- Row 1 - Single crochet into each of the 20 chain stitches. Chain one to turn. (Note: a single crochet is made by sticking your hook into the chain, yarning over the hook, pulling through a loop, and then yarning over your hook and pulling through both loops on the hook. In British terms, this is actually called a double crochet.)
- Row 2 - Working in the back loops only (if you look at the stitch from the previous row, there are two pieces of yarn that you normally work under both. To work in the back loop only, stick your hook between the two pieces of yarn - into the center of the stitch looking down from the top - and then out the back of the stitch. Work as a normal Single Crochet.), complete 9 Single Crochet stitches (usually abbreviated as SC). Then, in the 10th and 11 stitches, make two Single Crochet stitches each. Once done with this part, you will now have 13 Single Crochet stitches. There should be 9 left to work. Finish working those 9 stitches for a total of 22 Single Crochet stitches.Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 3 - Working in the back loops only (Hint, the ENTIRE project is worked in the back loops, so if you haven't figured out what I am talking about, please ask me!), complete 22 single crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 4 - Working in the back loops only, work 9 Single Crochet stitches. In the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th stitches, work 2 Single Crochet stitches each. You'll now have a total of 17 stitches worked and 9 un-worked. Finish working those 9 ending with a total of 26 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 5 - Working in the back loops only, complete 26 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 6 - Working in the back loops only, work 11 Single Crochet stitches. In the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th stitches, work 2 Single Crochet stitches each for a total of 19 stitches worked and 11 un-worked. Finish working the 11 leftover stitches for a total of 30 Single crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 7 - Working in the back loops only, complete 30 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 8 - Working in the back loops only work 13 Single Crochet stitches. In the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th stitches, work 2 Single Crochet stitches each for a total of 21 Single Crochet stitches worked and 13 unworked. Complete those 13 stitches for a total of 34 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 9 - Working in the back loops only, complete 34 Single Crochet stitches. At this point, your hat looks kind of rainbow shaped, lol! Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 10 - Working in the back loops only, work 15 Single Crochet stitches. In the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th stitches, work 2 Single Crochets each for a total of 23 Single Crochet and 15 unworked; work them for a total of 38 Single crochet Stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 11 - Working in the back loops only, complete 38 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 12 - This is the last increase row! Working in the back loops only, work 18 Single Crochet stitches. In the 19th and 20th stitches, work 2 Single Crochet each for a total of 22 stitches worked and 18 unworked. Finish working the rest of the stitches for a total of 40 Single crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 13 - Working in the back loops only, complete 40 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Rows 14-30 - Working in the back loops only, complete 40 Single Crochet Stitches. Chain 1 to turn.

At this point, your hat will look somewhat like a hat, lol! Holding you beginning chain together over one ear, check to see if the hat is ALMOST wide enough to fit your head - or better yet, the head of the person you are making this hat for. (There is still about 12 more rows to add, so don't forget that when guestimating width.) Don't worry if it seems a bit short and no longer actually covers your ears at this point. If the hat is NOT wide enough, add 4 more rows of single crochet worked in the back loops only. When the hat IS wide enough, it's time to decrease!

- Row 31 (or 35 if extra rows were needed.) - Working in the back loops only, complete 18 Single Crochet stitches. In the 19th and 20th stitches, work a decrease by inserting hook into the 19th stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop. DO NOT complete a Single Crochet! Now stick the hook into the 20th stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop. Yarn over and pull through all three loops on hook. Et Voila! you have now made 2 stitches into 1. This can also be accomplished by simply skipping the 20th stitch, but it leave a hole in the hat. NOW decrease the 21 and 22 stitches. Once done, you will have 20 stitches worked and 18 unworked. Finish working those 18 stitches for a total of 38 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 32 - Working in the back loops only, complete 38 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 33 - Working in the back loops only, work 15 Single Crochet stitches. In the 16th and 17th stitches, decrease. In the 18th and 19th stitches, decrease. In the 20th and 21st stitches, decrease. Once more, in the 22nd and 23rd stitches, decrease. You will now have a total of 19 stitches worked and 15 left to work. Work those for a total of 34 stitches worked. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 34 - Working in the back loops only, complete 34 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 35 - Working in the back loops only, work 13 Single Crochet stitches. In the 14th and 15th, 16th and 17th, 18th and 19th, and 20th and 21 stitches, decrease. Remember, a decrease is combining 2 stitches into 1. This will be 17 stitches worked and 13 unworked. Work the 13 for a total of 30 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 36 - Working in the back loops only, complete 30 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 37 - Working in the back loops only, work 11 Single Crochet. In the 12th and 13th, 14th and 15th, 16th and 17th, 18th and 19th stitches, decrease. You now have 15 stitches worked and 11 unworked. Complete the rest of the Single Crochet stitches for a total of 26 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 38 - Working in the back loops only, complete 26 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 39 - Working in the back loops only, work 9 Single Crochet stitches. Decrease in the 10th and 11th, 12th and 13th, 14th and 15th, 16th and 17th stitches. This will give you 13 stitches completed and 9 unworked. Complete those 9 for a total of 22 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 40 - Working in the back loops only, complete 22 Single Crochet stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 41 - LAST decreasing row! Working in the back loops only, work 9 Single Crochet stitches. Decrease in the 10th and 11th, 12th and 13th, stitches for a total of 11 stitches worked and 9 unworked. Finish the 9 stitches for a total of 20 stitches. Chain 1 to turn.
- Row 42 - Working in the back loops only, complete 20 Single Crochet stitches.

CHECK FOR FIT! at this point, the hat should be wide enough to fit the head, but not necessarily long enough. If it IS long enough to cover both ears, then you won't need as many white rows, but even so, more is better than not enough, lol! Working in the back loops only has created a ribbed stitch effect, and makes this hat stretchy. Even so, it is a good hat to make oversized :-)

Decide which side is the inside and which is the outside. Fold the hat so that the INSIDE of the hat is on the OUTSIDE. Sew or crochet the sides together, fasten off the yarn and cut it and then weave in the loose ends.

ALMOST done! Whew!

Turn the hat so that the OUTSIDE is on the outside, lol. At one of the side seams, attach the fluffly Sinsations yarn with a slip stitch. (A slip stitch is when you stick the hook into the stitch you are working, yarn over and pull a loop through, but rather than yarn over again to create a Single Crochet stitch, continue pulling the loop through the loop on your hook.)

- Round 1 - Working along the bottom edge of the hat, Single Crochet until you come back to the beginning. Slip stitch into the beginning Single Crochet. Chain 1 to turn.
- Round 2 - Working in the back loops only, work a Single Crochet stitch into all stitches until you get back to the beginning. Join to the first stitch with a slip stitch. Chain 1 to turn.
- Rounds 3-8 - Repeat round 2. When finished, fasten off and cut the yarn, then weave in the loose end. This is where you can change the length. If you don't need the hat to be as long, you can omit rounds. If you need the hat to be longer, add some rounds. Keep in mind that you should only have enough of the Sinsations yarn left to complete about 1 more round. If you think you are going to want a lot more rounds, you are going to need to buy more yarn.

YEA!!! You are done! Congratulations on your cute new hat :-)

A friend of mine wanted me to teach her to read Crochet Patterns, that is why I took the time to write ALL of the instructions out. A Crochet Pattern uses abbreviations so that it would look like this:

- Row 37 - Working in BLO, work 11 SC. DEC in the next 8 st. SC across for a total of 26 stitches. Ch 1 to turn.

This abbreviation makes it a LOT simpler to write a pattern, and is easy to follow if you know how. Generally, if you can't figure out what an abbreviation means, the pattern will tell you that - for example - DEC means decrease, and will even tell you how to do that. Usually, this info is at the end - or the beginning - of the pattern.

Good luck and have a happy day :-D