It's all about that slouch!

I've been making and selling hats for YEARS now, I've probably made at least a thousand hats, most my own pattern, or a significantly altered variation on a pattern I've seen online. The most significant change is that I HATE brim up hat patterns. They're cute and all, but I lose interest before I get to the top..... So I'll alter a pattern to be top down. Which is great, but I get bored with that too.

So I set out with the task of finding/creating a pattern that was consistent in size, easy to remember, and could be scaled to accommodate several different variances. And so I came up with my "slouch recipe".

This is a great pattern/recipe for showing off those lovely wonderful cake yarns without an odd seam down the back, or for lovely yarns that are variegated, and get lost with fancy stitches.

This hat was done with this pattern by a good friend of mine, Kirstin. She used I Love This Yarn in Dakota.

What you'll need:

Worsted (weight 4 or 5) yarn of your choice. (I can typically do 2 adult hats and 1 child hat with 1 skein of Red Heart with Love or Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn. Other yarns that work great are Charisma by Loops and Threads, and Lionbrand Heartland. )

J or 6mm Hook ( I use Amour, but have used normal hooks for most of my hooking career...)

Yarn needle (for weaving in ends in color changes, and at the end.)

Scissors

Optional: Button, faux fur pompom, etc.

Notes:

I'm going to include a size chart to help you decide on your sizes, I'm writing the pattern for an Adult size (because that's what I'm making for an order). I'll put * where you need to refer to the chart.

Also, you'll be working in continuous spirals, place a marker for the first 3 rounds, after that, it doesn't much matter.

If you finish a hat, and you find it doesn't fit adjust up or down 1 hook size to accommodate your tension.

Now, to begin!

Round 1) You can do ch 2, start in 2nd chain, or you can do Magic Circle, the choice is your preference. (Refer to chart for your size*) 3sc, 13hdc in the magic circle, place marker.

Round 2) 2hdc in each stitch to marker (32*)

Round 3) 2hdc in each stitch to market (64*)

At this point, you'll have a lumpy pancake looking thing. It's perfectly normal... think of it like the wobbly wiggly bit when you cinch up the top of a brim up hat. It's the gather point for all those stitches.

Round 4-? Fill with your choice of stitch. Straight hdc works well, criss-cross dc works great here, 3rd row or camel stitch. You can create a pretty convincing CC copycat hat be alternating FPDC and camel stitch every 3-4 rows. I'll outline my new favorite texture combo.

Inspired by the Alabaster Slouch from Croyden Crochet, and the Cookie Snob version of the CC hat here... I've created this beautiful combo.

Sample hat 
Round 4-7) Alabaster stitch: skip 1, *[sc, dc] in next stitch, skip 1* around for 3 rounds. (repeat from * to *) Note: on the 2nd round of Alabaster, you should be going into the sc from the last round, if it doesn't line up, fudge it, and skip an extra to hit the sc.

Round 8) hdc in each stitch around

Round 9-11) hdc in 3rd loop of each stitch (check out this crochet crowd video for tutorial)

Round 12) sc in 3rd loop of each stitch

Round 13-22) repeat rounds 4-12

Round 23-26) repeat rounds 4-7

Begin Brim

Sample: sc in back loops only round and round,  0for 1 inch.

You can do whatever style brim you'd like, it is totally up to you. I like sc because it's easy, many people prefer FPDC because it gives it a nice ribbed effect, others like to continue the pattern in 3rd loop stitch. If you choose the last option, size down one hook, to give it more rigidity and hold better on your head. 

Work brim round and round for 1-2 inches, your preference. Cut off leaving a tail about 6 inches long. tie off in your favorite way, and then weave your end in at least 2 different directions. I tend to zig-zag up and down the brim.

I'll be adding a brown faux fur pompom, and an accent button. They'll match a set of gloves I made from this pattern, back in July.

I don't mind at all if you sell things from this pattern, but DO NOT sell or distribute the pattern as your own. I spent quite a lot of time trying and testing, tweaking and editing the pattern for you.

Link back to my post, and share your blog/facebook images with me in the comments. Thank you!

OOh. Put it on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/its-all-about-that-slouch