I’ve been trying to use up my stash of Paton’s Wool Roving and I decided to make another variation of the Beginner Friendly Crochet Hat my mom designed for Yarnspirations a few months ago.

These hats use the same technique of making a rectangle, then folding it in and half and stitching the sides together, then gathering one end together at the top and adding a pom pom.  Since I’m still very much a beginner crocheter and haven’t really mastered the technique of working in the round, I really love this easy way to make hats.

This pattern is mostly the same as the Yarnspiration’s beginner hat, except instead of using a half double crochet cluster, I used extended half double crochet so that it still sort of gives the hat a faux cable look, but is a little bit more flat.

Below is a picture of the Yarnspirations beginner scarf and hat that uses the half double crochet cluster and it’s not too late to sign up for the beginner program if you’re interested!  There are video tutorials for a scarf, hat and pair of mittens.  You can click here to sign up for emails that will give you some coupon codes for yarn or you can click here to go straight to the patterns and videos.

In the Yarnspiration’s pattern my mom used a pom pom maker to make her own pom pom, but I recently discovered these pre-made Bernat Faux Fur Pom Poms and I really love how they turned out! A great alternative if you want to save some time :).

Materials

for one hat

Patons Alpaca Blend (100 g/3.5 oz, 142 m/155 yds)

2 skeins Butternut, Smoke or Peony

Size J/6.00m hook, tapestry needle, scissors

Bernat Faux Fur Pom Pom

Stitches

Half Double Crochet (HDC): YO, insert your hook, YO and pull up a loop, YO and pull through three loops on hook.

Extended Half Double Crochet (EHDC): YO and insert your hook. YO and pull back through, YO and pull through one loop, YO and pull through all three loops on hook.

Single Crochet (SC): Insert your hook, YO and pull up a loop, YO and pull through two loops on hook. 

Size

Pattern

Chain 34 or any even number to the size you need.

Row 1: Starting in the 3rd chain from the hook, work 1 HDC in each chain. CH 2 and turn. 

Row 2: Work 1 HDC in each stitch across the row, working in the front two loops only (the chain 2 does not count as your first HDC). CH 2 and turn. 

Row 3: In the first stitch of the row below, *work 1 EHDC, then SC in the next stitch, working in the front two loops only. Repeat from * across the row.  When you reach the end of the row, CH 2 and turn.

Row 4: Work 1 HDC in each stitch across the row, working in the front two loops only (when you are working into the SCs from the row below, there will only be one front loop to go through.) CH 2 and turn. 

Rows 5 – 6: Work 1 HDC in each stitch across the row, working in the front two loops only. CH 2 and turn. 

Repeat rows 3 through 6 until you have 48 rows total or to the size you need.

When you finish the last row, chain one and line up the two ends together, making sure the Extended Half Double Crochet sides are facing toward each other. Slip stitch the two sides together. (If you don’t like to slip stitch, you can also sew the two sides together with a tapestry needle.) When you finish joining the sides, tie off, leaving a long tail that you can use to gather the top.

After you’ve joined the two sides, flip the hat inside out so that the Extended HDCs are facing outward. (If you look closely at the picture at the top of the post you can see that I forgot to flip my pink hat outward before I attached my pom pom…it doesn’t look bad, but I’m sad it doesn’t have the same texture as the other two.)

Then use the long tail and a tapestry needle to gather the top into a circle.  For me, the easiest way was to weave the thread around the edges about two stitches apart and then to pull it tight once I went around the whole thing.

Once you’ve gathered the end and made the top of the hat, you can attach your pom pom. The pom pom comes with two long strings that you can use your tapestry needle to secure to the top of the hat.

And that’s it! I hope you enjoy making these hats; I think they are a fun and simple way to create something that looks more complicated than it really is!

If you’re looking for some more winter wear ideas, here are some more projects you might like!