Crochet Projects: Hats for Gifts

The last couple weeks have been incredibly busy, especially at work, leaving me exhausted by evening and too tired to crochet much. Tomorrow is the last riding lesson of winter session at my therapeutic riding facility, which also means the last lesson with my interim instructor. Last year I crocheted a gift for my instructor, so I decided to make gifts for my new instructor and my two helpers. I did manage to complete hats for the helpers, but Hubby did the hat for my instructor. Three hats in 4 days was too much for me.

I made these hats basically the same. I wanted to use bulky yarn for speed, but I needed an easy-care yarn, and an open pattern for breathability. They're made from this free Lion Brand pattern, with most of one skein of Lion Brand Homespun in Montana Sky, and a G hook. The yarn label calls for a K hook, so switching down to a G was a bit difficult at first, but I quickly got the hang of the bulky yarn and smallish hook. I love this pattern! It's probably the first hat I've made that didn't end up with extra stitches in each round. Working in the chain spaces instead of in the double crochets was much easier for me to count the stitches easily and keep the rounds even.

I made a couple modifications to my hats. I skipped the chain for the starting round and did an adjustable loop instead. I only did 10 rounds before the brim, and only 3 rounds on the brim. After trying the hat on several times, I modified so the hats wouldn't be too big. Nothing worse than a hat brim sticking in my eyes, and my helpers need to be able to see well in their work at the TRC.  I left the flowers off the hats, too.