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Last year just before Valentine’s day, I made my daughter a super adorable heart hat. She loves to wear it, but our weather in Florida is just too hot for chunky hats most days. Besides that- my son was jealous! So I decided to pick up that gorgeous skein of Mandala yarn I have in my stash and let it out to play. After some trial and error (and a hat thief!) I came up with this lovely free textured crochet beanie pattern that I’ve called the XO Textured Toque.
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The first hat I made turned out to be a lovely ice blue ombre hat. My daughter didn’t like it- and that’s okay because it came out too big for her anyways! My son, on the other hand, has been wanting his own crochet hat for quite some time, and snatched it right off my head as I was going outside to photograph it for you all.
I think it suits him pretty well, don’t you? He looks so grown up in this photo!
After adjusting a few stitch counts, I made a gorgeous (and colorful!) hat that fit my daughter just perfectly. Now that cotton candy color blocking is what I’d expected using the Mandala yarn cake! Isn’t it so gorgeous? You can really see the details of the stitching in this photo, too.
She loves to model for the camera, too! We plan to print quite a few of the photos I took that day for their grandparents and our own personal photo collections.
I’ll have you know that she posed herself for that photo.
Materials
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I 5.5 mm Hook for brim (optional but helpful)
Lion Brand Mandala Yarn, Unicorn or another DK weight yarn (75(125,150 yards)each- so much less than one skein!)
Scissors
Yarn Needle
Abbreviations
Ch- chain
Cl – cluster
Dc – double crochet
Lp – loop
Sk – skip
Sl – slip
Tbl – through back loop only
Special Stitches
Cluster- worked as a dc3tog decrease but in one stitch. Yo, insert hook into stitch, yo and pull up a loop. Yo, pull through two loops. *Yo, insert hook into stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through two loops.* Repeat ** once more. Yo and pull through all loops on hook. Cluster stitch made.
Gauge / Finished Size
9 stitches and 5 rows DC per 2”
Pin this image on Pinterest before you start or add to your Ravelry Favorites so you can find the pattern later!
XO Textured Toque- a Free Textured Crochet Beanie Pattern
Crown of Hat:
Round 1: Work 10 dc into a magic loop.Sl to join. [10]
Round 2: Ch2, 2dc in each stitch around. Sl to join. [20]
Round 3: Ch2, *2dc, dc in next st.*Sl to join. [30]
Round 4: Ch 2, *2dc, dc in next 2 sts.*Sl to join. [40]
Round 5: Ch 2, *2dc, dc in next 3 sts.* Sl to join. [50] Newborn size: Stop here and skip to round 8.
Round 6: Ch 2, *2dc, dc in next 4 sts.* Sl to join. [60] Child size: Stop here and skip to round 8.
Round 7: Ch 2, *2dc, dc in next 5 sts.*Sl to join. [70]
Textured Crochet Section:
Round 8: Ch 2, dc around. Sl to join. Sl to join. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 9: Ch2, *Sk 1, dc. Pass hook behind and dc in the skipped st.* Sl to join. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 10: Repeat round 8. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 11: Ch2, *Cl, ch 1, sk 1.* Repeat around, sl to join. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 12: Repeat round 8. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 13: Repeat round 9. [50 (60, 70)]
Round 14: Repeat round 8. [50 (60, 70)] Newborn size: Stop here and proceed with brim.
Round 15-18: Repeat rounds 11-14. [50 (60, 70)] Child size: Stop here and proceed with brim.
Adult size ONLY: for a slouchier hat, repeat rounds 15-18 once more. Then move on to the brim!
Crochet Slip Stitch Ribbed Hat Brim:
I used a really gorgeous slip stitch crochet technique for this hat brim. It is super soft and stretchy, and it looks just like knit! I even fooled my buddy Kirsten, who’s also a crochet designer. “Ohh that one! I thought it WAS knit!” It’s that good, guys.
Yes, slip stitching takes patience, but most good things in life do. Just look at how adorable the brim of this hat is when you have to frog back a row every now and then! And remember, Jesus says to forgive each other “seventy times seven” times. (Which, coincidentally, is the number of stitches in the adult sized brim!)
To pull off this amazingly beautiful brim, you will need to maintain a VERY loose tension- consider going up a hook size. For those of you who have never done a crochet knit look hat brim using back loop slip stitch crochet before, hang in there! I’m including one helpful photo, and I’m working on a full photo tutorial for you as a guest post. I’ll update you with the link as soon as it goes live- it looks like the first week of February.
Row 1: Chain 8. Slip stitch through the 2nd chain and 5 more chains. Work your last slip stitch through both the back loop of the last chain and the next stitch in the hat.
To do so, first pick up the back loop of the final slip stitch. It can be a bit sneaky if you’re not using a loose enough tension, so you may have to use your hook to coax it up. Then, pick up the next stitch on the hat. Your hook will look like this before you yarn over and pull through all the loops on your hook.
Row 2: Slip stitch through the next stitch, turn. Sl 7 tbl.
Row 3: Ch 1, turn. Sl 6 tbl, sl tbl and next st together.
Repeat Rows 2-3 until you have worked your way around the brim of your hat.
To close the brim, you can either slip stitch both ends together through the back loops, or cut your yarn leaving a long tail to sew together.
Then you can use your yarn needle to weave in all your ends, and your hat will be ready for gifting to your favorite Valentine, big or small. I hope you enjoy crocheting this free textured beanie pattern and sharing your love through the craft of crochet.
Thank you so much for supporting my blog! I have checked and double-checked this pattern, but I’m only human- please let me know if you have any questions or if I have missed anything at all so I can correct it for you all.
You are more than welcome to sell any finished items made from this pattern. Please use your own photos and credit Katie Clary as the designer. Links back to my blog post are greatly appreciated! Please feel free to share this pattern by directing others to this blog post or the Ravelry listing, NOT by distributing the pattern or photos as your own.
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rachael stenz says
For row 9 is this the crossed stitch? I don’t quite get what stitch you are talking about. Could you please explain.
Katie says
Hi Rachael! Yes, you’re right that this is the crossed DC stitch. Your ch 2 is just a turning chain. Then, you’ll skip one stitch, pass your hook behind that stitch, and dc through the skipped st from the previous round. Hope that helps!
Katie
Sue says
Very cute hat. I presume this could be made with #4 worsted weight yarn? Thanks.
Katie says
Hi Sue! You could definitely make this with #4 worsted weight yarn, but you’d need to do some math/experimenting to figure out the exact yardage and sizing, since Lion Brand Mandala is a #3 DK weight. You can use my Hat Size Checker to help!
Have fun experimenting!
Katie