Lately, I've been making a lot of beanies. I mean a LOT. Slouchy beanies have been hip for some time now, but finding a versatile and interesting pattern isn't all that easy. In the past, I've been afraid to try patterns - it's reading another language plus the fear of messing up and ruining the precious yarn (as if there's not a ton more in the stash) that would hold me back.
Then, I found this post about the urban jungle slouchy beanie. It's super easy to follow and doesn't work in the round starting in a circle - something I was terrified of. I like my rows, thank you very much. But, what's so great about this pattern is that you can really change up the sizing and colors so easily that it almost becomes a brand new hat each time!
The whole slouchy beanie came up when I was sitting over at my local coffee shop crocheting in public. Yes, how very awkward of me, but you should try it - someone might ask you to make them something great. And as I was sitting there working on a houndstooth scarf for my friend, a girl walks over to me and asks me if I could make her a hat. We talked about her style for a few minutes and I gave her a once-over and decided I was going to finally try out that slouchy beanie pattern. Lucky for me, she loves the color mustard, too and I thought it would look great with her dark brown hair.
So, I immediately went over to my local JoAnn's and picked up this gorgeous mustard yarnfrom Lion Brand and got started. Once I got through the ribbed band, I started to crochet around the edge with this glorious puff stitch. I had never tried this stitch before, so it took some getting used to at first - but after making about 10 hats now, it's a lot easier to use.
I found that the hardest part of the pattern is actually closing up the hat. Since we're not working in rounds from the top down, but rather large rounds around the band, you'll eventually be left with a flat hat. To stitch the top, you want to make sure you don't fasten off, and single crochet across the top to create a star shape.
Then you're finished!
We decided to add a pom for fun, and I think it looks awesome! Of course, I posted this online and my friends went CRAZY for it.
Have you tried any cool hat patterns this winter?