3.07.2012

Spin-A-Yarn | Crochet Beanie Tutorial


After posting about my slouchy beanie here, I was so excited to hear that several of you would like to learn to knit and crochet. Well guess what? I can totally deliver! 

I am going to start the Spin-a-Yarn Knitting and Crocheting School, and YOU can be enrolled! All you have to do is check my blog every week on Wednesdays to learn something cool and new about working with yarn. I would love it so much if you were vocal and let me know specific things you're interested in learning. For example, go "Hey, I saw this cool sweater- how do they do this pattern?" or "Holy cow, how do I know if I want to knit a project or crochet it?" Speak your minds, friends! 

This is my final post in the Spin-a-Yarn series. I'm a little sad to finish it, but I'm really excited to share my awesome winter party with you next week! (That's right, I'm giving  you a whole week of party awesomeness!)


To finish off this series right, I'm going to give you a pattern for the slouchy beanie I showed you here. As a disclaimer, I did create the hat with a little trial-and-error and no official patterns, so I hope what I type is actually correct and makes it easy for you to replicate.

I used Red Heart yarn in purple and a crochet hook of size K (10 1/2) for the beginning.

To begin, chain 6 stitches. At this point, you will be completing a circle by crocheting into your first chain (does that make sense?). Single crochet twice in each chain all around the circle (which means you will create 12 stitches from 6 chains). Continue this for 4 more rows. At this point, switch to a treble crochet and diminish how many times you crochet in each pre-existing stitch. Crochet once in an existing stitch, crochet twice in the next existing stitch. Repeat that pattern all around the circle. Keep going around until you have a full circle that measures about 6" from side to side. (It's not important to be super exact here, you just want to create a flat, circle. Don't worry if the circle seems "floppy". That's how mine was and that's what makes it work!)

At this point you will switch to a larger crochet hook. Unfortunately, my hook doesn't have a size labeled on it, but I believe it's in the neighborhood of size P (10mm). Continue to treble crochet, but don't increase stitches anymore. I did about 7 or 8 rows; I basically kept trying on the hat until it was appropriately "floppy" for my liking. 

Using the larger needle, double crochet another 7 or 8 rows until a tighter band has been existed that will hold the hat on your head. Once you've reached the desired length, cut your yarn with a tail of a few inches. Pull the tail through your last stitch, pulling tight to make a knot. Thread the loose tail through some of your hat stitches to hide it. 

If you want to be a little glamorous, attach a brooch or earring to the band of the beanie by sewing it on with a coordinating thread. I know this pattern was a bit sketchy, but I'm not a professional crochet-pattern-creator. I hope it works out for you. Let me know if any of you attempt it!


Hey friends! I've had a lot of comments about this tutorial, and a few people had some issues making the directions work perfectly for them. One very helpful (but anonymous) reader left the following instructions that should help you all out!

"This is one of the best slouchy had patterns out there. It just needs a few adjustments. Here are the changes I made and it came out great. Hope this helps. 

"I am not a pattern writer so excuse the poor flow. 
I used 2 strands together of Caron Simply soft yarn
With J hook
Row 1: Work 12 SC in a magic ring join to beginning of round
Row 2: Work 2 SC in each SC from Row 1, join to beginning of round
Row 3: Work 40 SC's evenly around, join to beginning of round
Row 4: Work 1 SC in each SC around, join to beginning of round
Row 5: Work 1 DC in each SC around, join to beginning of round 
Row 6: work 58 SC evenly around, join to beginning of round

"Switch to K hook:
Rows 7-12: work one DC in each DC around, join to beginning in each round

"Switch to I hook:
Rows 13-17: Work 52 SC evenly around, join to beginning of round
Row 18: work 50 SC's evenly around, join to beginning of round"

Thanks so much for the edits anonymous reader!

28 comments:

  1. I think i will enrolling for Knitting and Crocheting School..:) its seems fun.. If you have any idea for knitting or crochet for boy please share with me..have been struggling to choose what to make something for my boyfriend :)

    Thank You.:)

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  2. I don't guess you have a knit version of this...

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  3. I love this hat! I'm even going to go to thrift stores and look for a button like the one you have on yours. I think thats what i love most about the hat.

    I have started making this hat and I have been crocheting for a while and I think you have it written wrong though. The last section (for the band) you say they are double crochet, I'm pretty sure they are single crochet. I'm also wondering if you meant double crochet for the hat instead of triple crochet.

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  4. This is an awesome hat! I just with there was more "breakdown" pictures. I am waiting until its rewritten to start but I am so anxious! This is such a cute hat! Thanks so much for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. I'm happy you like hat, Emma! Unfortunately, this really was a "trial-and-error" experiment, so I don't have any additional progress pictures and this is as final as the pattern will get. Hopefully you can still make your own version soon, though!

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  5. When you're making the "band" would you switch to the smaller of the hooks and not the larger so that the stitches are tighter?

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    Replies
    1. Hey Crystal- I can see how the way I worded that could be confusing. When you begin the band you don't actually switch hooks at all, you just stay on the larger size hook you were already using for the rest of the hat. The small hook is only used at the very beginning to get the center of the hat nice and tight. Hope this helps!

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    2. Thank you so much. I just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly. Also I tried to start the hat last night and I was having problems with the first part, the K hook rows. As I was going around it was starting to get all wavy. I don't know if I am getting it right. Is it working in a round or staring a new row, just for those first 5 rows of the K hook. Thank you.

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    3. Don't worry too much about it getting wavy. If you notice my top right photo my center was wavy, too. Once you get to the outer rings that waviness will smooth out and give you the extra space to make it kind of floppy (which was the look I was going for). I'm so excited you're trying this out- I'd love to see a picture of the end result!

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  6. this pattern is no good. I tried it and it started getting wavy and floppy like Crystal said but way more than yours does in the pictures, so i un-did it all and restarted only to get the same results. Also it's not forming a hat it's just a flat wavy circle. it's nothing like a hat. :( i'm very disappointed bc i love the one in the pictures and was so excited to make it for a friend of mine and i'm having trouble finding another pattern for a hat like this. it looks like a loofa. :( like i said, super disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you still looking. The beanie is cute just needed some changes. The beginning is suppose to be wavy to accomplish the slouch look. but as you continue to crochet it will turn out right. I made another modification below. Hope it helps.

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  7. At the beginning, are we supposed to do 12 around for 4 rows, or 2/stitch around for 4 rows?

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  8. ^^getting same results and I crochet a lot. I really love this and wish you could redo the pattern or remake one.

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    Replies
    1. See below, I just posted a modification

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  9. I got halfway through the hat and mine was doing the same giant wavy circle thing. On looking at the picture again I'm realizing that although it says dc to tc back to dc it is in fact a single crochet to a double crochet back to a single for the band. I haven't yet retried it, but that should make a difference.

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  10. This is one of the best slouchy had patterns out there. It just needs a few adjustments. Here are the changes I made and it came out great. Hope this helps.

    I am not a pattern writer so excuse the poor flow.
    I used 2 strands together of Caron Simply soft yarn
    With J hook
    Row 1: Work 12 SC in a magic ring join to beginning of round
    Row 2: Work 2 SC in each SC from Row 1, join to beginning of round
    Row 3: Work 40 SC's evenly around, join to beginning of round
    Row 4: Work 1 SC in each SC around, join to beginning of round
    Row 5: Work 1 DC in each SC around, join to beginning of round
    Row 6: work 58 SC evenly around, join to beginning of round

    Switch to K hook:
    Rows 7-12: work one DC in each DC around, join to beginning in each round

    Switch to I hook:
    Rows 13-17: Work 52 SC evenly around, join to beginning of round
    Row 18: work 50 SC's evenly around, join to beginning of round

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 11, 2013

      I noticed in row 6 you are sc then in row 7 you say to work one dc in each dc around.? How much yarn does it take?

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    2. AnonymousJuly 06, 2013

      This is fantastic. I just finished mine based on this pattern. Looks and fits great! Thanks so much.

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    3. Do you chain three after you join one round to the next?

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  11. AnonymousMay 05, 2013

    How much yarn did you need? I am trying to use up yarn left me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used up more then half of Vanna's choice yarn. So for a Caron simply soft it might be about half the skien. Good luck. I also did a modification below.

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  12. I also did another version of this. Both the original and the modified one that was made by anonymous was confusing to me too. so this is more for beginners.
    I used single strand worsted weight yarn, about half a skein of the Vanna's choices yarn.

    I made this to fit a head circumfrence of 21"-22" inches
    It is written in US crochet terms:

    -always slst to join
    -with each sc round start with ch 1
    -with each dc rounds start with ch 3

    With any worst weight yarn and a "H" hook
    Rd01: 6sc in adjustable ring (magic ring)
    Rd02: 2sc in each st (12)
    Rd03: 2sc in each sc (24)
    Rd04: 2sc in each sc (48)
    Rd05: [dc, 2dc in next st] around (74)
    Change to "K" hook
    Rd06: sc around
    Rd07: dc around
    Repeat [Rds 06+07] 6more times
    Band:
    Which to "G" hook
    Next 6 rounds: 74sc around.
    last Rd: 74slst loosely around
    Fasten off
    Weave in ends.
    You can change it to fit a bigger head by
    changing the hook size for the band to a "H" or "I" hook
    Have fun and good luck.
    Nitti :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fun Idea for scrap yarn:
      Make it a rainbow Slouch. Tt will be tooo cute.

      Delete
  13. My hat looked nothg like this

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  14. anonymous numbers don't add up. For instance in row 3 she should have 48 stitches, not 40. In row 6 how did she get 58 stitches. According to her she's working evenly on 40 stitches with no mention of any increases. I've been crocheting for almost 50 years & this makes no sense.

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  15. You have to increase and decrease by estimating on those rows. I have made two of these hats already. Its just not a even amount of stitches that you are increasing or decreasing. You could probably adjust it a bit to even out the numbers if you really want to. It took me a couple of tries but eventually I got the right amount of stitches.

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  16. For people not familiar with increasing stitches in circles....Usually with each round you increase the number of stitches between increases. For example...one round you would do 2 sc (or dc) in each stitch around. The next round you would do 1 stitch in a stitch, then 2 in the nest stitch, then 1 in next stitch...so you are doing 2 in each stitch every other stitch. So it is....1sc in st, 2 sc in st, 1c in stitch, 2 sc in stitch alternating all around til end of round. Then the next round would be 1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next st, etc. So essentially you are always increasing in every round but each successive round you do one more regular 1 st to a stitch crochet before another 2 sc in stitch (called an increase). I have a feeling all the readers who have too wavy of hats, are still increasing at a high rate like at the beginning round...instead of spreading out their increaes by one stitch between in each successive round.

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  17. Is this pattern written in US or UK terms? And do you chain after joining when starting a new row?

    ReplyDelete

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