Hat #2: Basic Ribbed Crochet Hat

Geez, I feel like I'm going to end up making 30 hats before Christmas.

THAT'S IT. I'M JUST GONNA MAKE 30 HATS BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

New challenge. That's good, I like challenges. And I have a WHOLE bunch of yarn scraps to use up. 

Click "Read More" to find out how I did this. It's not really a pattern, but more like a formula. This was fun and quick and I'll probably do more like this before the challenge is over. :)

I had my son pick some colors from my stash. I told him he could pick up to two, and he selected orange and green. That's my fall-colored boy!

I crocheted this while watching...more YouTube lectures! Today it was about Network Security and Troubleshooting. WHEEE!

At first I was kind of worried about the green cap of solid color on top, but I'm okay with it now. It isn't too noticeable and it offers a bit of a break-up in the stripes, which turned out more aggressive than I thought it would be.

Also it has a bit of a point at the end. I'm a wee bit concerned that when my buddy gets home today it's going to be too small for him. But if I have to fold it up and hem it so it's shorter, that would be fine. SURE IT WILL BE FINE *panicked gasping*

(Spoiler alert: It was fine.)

Here's the happy boy in his hat. He loves it!

So here's what I did:

I took some scraps of orange and green in Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn. I have no idea how much I used but it wasn't much. It's a nice worsted weight acrylic, easy to take care of and full of bright wonderful color.

I also grabbed a K-hook. I love using big needles and hooks because it makes everything go so quickly, and I like chunky knitted objects. :)

I'll lay this out in steps:

1. Pick a color to start with and chain 7" for a kid's size (8 or 9" for an adult's size I would imagine).
2. Turn, sl st into the first stitch, and work 4 sc into the next four stitches of your chain. Work half-double crochets (wrap your yarn like you're going to do a double crochet, but after you pull the yarn through the first time, just wrap again and pull the yarn through all the stitches on your hook at once) to the end of the line. Chain 2 and turn. (ROW 2)
3. Work half-dc's up until the sc's from your previous row. Work 4 sc, then sl st into the slip stitch. Chain 1 and turn. (ROW 3)
4. Repeat ROW 2.
5. Cut your yarn and attach the other color. 
6. Work ROW 3 as above.
7. Work ROW 2 as above.
8. Switch colors.
9. Continue steps 6-8 until the work is about 18" long (I ended up doing 18 ribs).
10. Cut your yarn extra long, then bring the beginning of the work to the end and seam them with right sides together, so you have a tube.
11. Turn the work right side out and prepare to decrease!
12. Pick one of your yarns (whatever you have more of I guess, that's what I did).
13. On the top edge of your tube, you'll see a bunch of slip stitches. Sl st into the first slip stitch after your seam. Chain 2. Work half-dc all the way around, working two half-dc's into each rib. You should have twice as many half-dc's as you have ribs. In my case, I had 36 half-dc's. When you reach your starting chain, sl st into the chain.
14. Chain 2 and half-dc into the first half-dc. Half-dc all the way around.
15. DECREASING: Work 2 half-dc's, then dec 1 with a half-dc (wrap, hook through, wrap yarn around hook, pull hook and yarn back through, then immediately put your hook through the next stitch, wrap, and pull back through - then yarn over and pull the yarn through all the stitches on your hook). Work 2 half-dc's and 1 half-dc decrease in this manner all the way around. Sl st into the chain.
16. Chain 2 then half-dc all the way around.
17. Repeat steps 15-16 until you only have a few stitches left. Cut your yarn a few inches long, use your hook to pull the end of the yarn through each stitch, and pull tight.
18. Weave in your ends (there will be a lot, especially at the bottom where you changed colors).
19. All done!

Next move for me? A baby hat. BABY HAT! BECAUSE I KNOW A BABY!!!

But tomorrow I think I'll do a clothing reconstruction...just a very minor one. I have a bunch of clothes that just need a little bit of work, so I'll be recording my very small amounts of work for the blog as well.

XOXO