Cute Pixie Hat

If, like me, you are permanently bespectacled, well-fitting, woolly hats can be a bit of a pain to find.  When I could see to walk about without my specs I used to wear beanies, but they just don't fit right with specs ~ the arms get pressed in, raising the bridge off my nose slightly, which means that I'm constantly fiddling about with hat and specs in order to make the ensemble comfortable.  It just never feels quite right! 

So my answer to the problem is this cute little pixie hat, which fits perfectly over the wide arms of my specs.

And it hooks up really quick too, in just a few hours.

© Hooker Chick

You will need approximately 220 yds (200 m) / 3.5 oz (100g) of medium weight yarn (I used Cascade's now discontinued 'Souk', which is a self-striping, wool/silk mix), a 4.00 mm hook, and a darning needle to sew in the ends.

Abbreviations:
slst ~ slip stitch
ch ~ chain stitch
dc ~ double crochet (UK)
htr ~ half treble (UK)
tr ~ treble (UK)

The hat is worked in rounds in the same direction, into the spaces between stitches.  Tension needs to be 15 stitches/12 rows to 4 inches.

Foundation ring ~ ch 3, slip stitch to join circle.
Round 1 ~ ch 3, tr 7, slst into 3rd chain (ch 3 counts as a stitch, so 8 stitches in all).
Round 2 ~ ch 3, *tr 1, tr 2 into same space*, repeat * - * 3 twice more, tr 1, tr 1 into same space as ch 3 (so this counts as 2 trebles in the same space), slst into 3rd chain.  You should have 12 stitches in all, in alternate sets of 1 and 2.
Round 3 ~ ch 3, *tr 1, tr 1, tr 2 into same space*, repeat *-* twice more, tr 1, tr 1, tr 1 into same space as ch 3, slst into 3rd chain.  You should now have 16 stitches in all.

Continuing in this way, increase 4 stitches per round, so round 4 will be in sets of tr 1, tr 1, tr 1, tr 2, round 5 tr 1, tr 1 tr 1, tr 1, tr 2, and so on, until you have 60 stitches (14 rounds in all).  The tr 2 into the same space always falls in the space between the tr 2 of the previous round.

The starting ch 3 of each round plus the tr into the same space at the end is the back of the hat.

Rounds 15 & 16, lose the increase treble at the front of the hat, and increase at the back and sides only, so 3 increase stitches per round.

Rounds 17 - 22, increase 3 stitches per round, but the back increase now changes to ch 2 as starting stitch plus htr as last stitch.

So that's 8 rounds of increasing 3 stitches per round, 84 stitches.

From here on we lose the increase stitch at the front of the hat and we start to shape the sides.

Round 23 ~ dc 14, *htr 4, tr 4, tr 2 into same space, tr 4, htr 4* (side), dc 21 (front), repeat * - * (side), dc 15. 

The increase continues at 2 stitches per round, one at the centre of each side.  If you get lost, you can always find your place again by using the increase as your marker.

Round 24 ~ *htr 4, tr 5, tr 2 into same space, tr 5, htr 4* (side), dc 20 (front), * - * (side), dc 29 (back).
Round 25 ~ *htr 4, tr 6, tr 2 into same space, tr 6, htr 4* (side), dc 19 (front), * - * (side), dc 28 (back).

Rounds 26 - 30, continue the *htr 4, tr 6, tr 2 into same space, tr 6, htr 4* stitch pattern at the sides, and dc along the front and back.  There will be an additional dc at the front and at the back on each round (20/29, 21/30, 22/31, 23/32, 24/33).  If you find that your dc is out by a stitch and you can't see where you've missed one or picked one up, don't stress - as long as the htr/tr stitch pattern is in the correct place at the sides, a lost or gained dc stitch isn't going to spoil the fit or look of your hat.

Finish the hat at the end of round 30, so where the back meets the righthand side.  Weave in end with darning needle.

For the dangley bits, cut 6 x 10 foot lengths of yarn.  Fold each length of yarn in half, and with right side of hat facing out, holding the fold/loop of one length under the centre space of one side (so space between the set of 2 trebles), hook into space and pull the loop through.  Leave the loop on the hook and work both strands of the yarn together into a chain until the ends - around 50 stitches.  In the space either side of this first chain, add 2nd and 3rd chain.  Make sure you do the same amount of chains for each.  So you now have three chains attached to the side of your hat.  Keeping the chains nice and flat, plait the chains to the end, and knot together.  To finish, you can either trim the ends neatly and leave as a tassel, or add a little pom-pom.  Repeat for other side of hat.

© Hooker Chick

To scale the hat up and down to fit larger and smaller heads, my suggestion is to add/subtract a number of 'increase x 4 stitches' rounds, so for a man-size hat, add 3 rows to give 72 stitches instead of 60, and for a child-size hat subtract 3 rows to give 48 stitches.  3 rounds is approximately 1.25 inches in length, and (if I've done my sums correctly) will give an overall circumference increase/decrease of about 3 inches.

Happy hooking!

Freestyle hooking

One of the beauties of crochet is that you don't have to restrict yourself to following patterns.  If, like me, you're a creative sort, with a bit of vision and patience you can make yourself some truly original and unique pieces.

All the crocheted items that I post in this blog have started life as ideas in my head, and for those that come together without too much unpicking and rejigging, I try and write up an easy-to-follow pattern.  But others have to remain as freestyle projects, mainly because I've done so much unpicking and rejigging (and cursing) that writing up a pattern just isn't possible!

This little tie-front shrug started out as 6 balls of the now discontinued 'Peru' by Sirdar - a chunky 100% alpaca yarn.  I spotted the yarn, discounted to clear, in my local wool shop.  As I wouldn't be able to buy more, I had to make something fairly small with it.

© Hooker Chick

I began by making the back piece, then the two front pieces, joined back to fronts and then added sleeves.  I then continued to shape the front pieces, which took some time, joining the yarn at various points and crocheting single rows until the fit was right.

© Hooker Chick

With a size 5.5mm hook, I used a shell stitch pattern as follows:

On a foundation row of trebles: *tr, tr, miss 2 ch, tr 5 into same space, miss 2 ch.  Repeat from *
 
Subsequent rows, the stitch pattern remains the same, but moves along:  crochet each group of 5 trebles into the space between the tr, tr of the previous row, and the tr, tr into the 2nd and 3rd space of the 5 tr group.

© Hooker Chick

This hooded jacket is in another discontinued yarn - Cascade's 'Souk', a medium weight wool/silk blend.  I managed to get my mitts on 20 skeins, so more than enough for a largish project!

© Hooker Chick

Like the bolero, I began by making the back piece, and then continued around, adding in a chain each side to form the armholes, and then row upon row of trebles, back and forth, increasing every few rows to form a large semi-circle.

© Hooker Chick

I then added sleeves, a hood, and folded and stitched the 'corners' of the semi-circle to form pockets at the front.

© Hooker Chick

I added the flower/leaves detail at the back to hide the middle join just below the back piece, and then another flower along with a chain stitch loop as a front fastener.

© Hooker Chick

© Hooker Chick

Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it - but this is where the patience comes in.  I probably spent as many hours unpicking as I did crocheting, until I got it looking right!

The entire jacket is made in treble stitch with the exception of the flowers, for which I used this pattern from Attic24

So ... I hope you feel inspired now to take up your yarn, break free of pattern-following, and have a go at some freestyle hooking!   

© Hooker Chick