written by threadslinger

I went to high school in the NW where it was the coolest thing ever when you could make beanies and give them to your friends. Problem was, I could never read the patterns. All the sc’s and ch’s got me confused. Even with a key that explained the words I would always get overwhelmed and give up. So finally, 5 years later, I decided to try again. First, I learned how to crochet by just messing around with yarn and a crochet hook until I could figure out how to make a scarf, and still when I am around my friends that crochet they say I “do it weird”. To me it isn’t weird, it is the only way. I searched online for an instruction manual in english as opposed to crochet speak and alas, there was none to be found. Luckily, I was able to mess around long enough until I figured it out. So, I now give to you instructions on how to crochet a hat in complete sentences! Hopefullly it will help someone!

Materials needed:

Yarn (any kind, I use think wool yarn usually but anything works)
Crochet hook (this also can be any size, but you should usally match size of yarn to crochet hook, ie fat yarn = fat needle, ect.)

Step 1:

Start out with the normal knot around your crochet hook.

Step 2:

Do 6 single crochet stitches in a line (chain), then go back over them once so you have two rows of 6 stitches.

Step 3:

Join one end of the chain with the other end so it is in a little loop.

Step 4:

Do a normal single stitch once, but then instead of doing another one, loop the free yarn around the hook without going through a hoop. This is the trick because instead of making your yarn curve in like a basketball it will go out like a doily.

Step 5:

Measure on your head/ head of person you are making hat for to see when you need to stop doing the skip loop trick (my made up name to make it sound cool).

Step 6:

When your doily-like object is big enough go back to regular single stitch crochet until the end of the hat. (This is the curve part of the hat). I don’t believe there is a magic number for rows or anything so I just put it on periodically to see if it is the right size. If you want at the end you can make a “brim” by changing the color of yarn for the last 3-4 rows.

Step 7:

When finished, wear your awesome hat, get used to getting compliments. (Or, in my case statements of the obvious, “whoa, you guys have matching hats”).