Crochet Bubble Hat

Robin Edmundson © 2008

www.morenna.com

Sizes:  Small, ages 2-5;  Medium, ages 5-10; Large, 10-adult; X-large, big heads or big hair.

General Instructions:

A. Hat band

Row 1: Chain stitch until your chain fits snuggly around your head (or the head that will wear the hat).   You want snug, not tight and not loose.  (Loose chains will stretch a bit and the hat will be too big.)  It does not matter how many stitches are in your chain.  Join.  [Suggested numbers:  Small, 53 stitches;  Medium, 60 stitches; Large, 68 stitches; X-large, 75 stitches:  Remember, these are guides only.  I can’t guarantee these suggested numbers will fit the head you have in mind.  The type of yarn you use, and the head to wear the hat will best determine the number of stitches you need.]

Row 2-6: Single crochet.  At the end of rows 2-5, join and chain 2.  At the end of row 6, join and chain 3. [Small hat, 5 rows]

B. Hat body

Row 1:  Double crochet whole row.  Join.  Chain 3.

Row 2:  Double crochet 2 stitches after every stitch of the last row.  (This will double the amount of stitches you have.)  Join.  Chain 3.

Row 3:  Look carefully at your last row.  You want to double crochet after every two stitches, right above your double crochets of  Row 1 in this section.  (Do not chain between the stitches in this row.  You want to reduce the number of stitches in your last row by half.  This will create a bubble effect.)

Row 4-8: Double crochet between the stitches of the last row.  Join.  Chain 3.  You are not increasing or decreasing the number of stitches in these rows.  At the end of the last row, chain 2.  [Small hats, 5 rows; Medium hats, 7 rows;  X-large hats, 11-12 rows]

C.    Crown:

Row 1:  Single crochet whole row.  Join.  Chain 3.  You will notice that the single crochets tighten things up at the top of the hat even though you use the same number of stitches.  

Row 2:  Skip one stitch, double crochet after the next, skip stitch, double crochet, skip stitch…until the end of the row.  You are decreasing the number of stitches by half.  Join.  Chain 2.

Row 3:  Single crochet whole row.  Join.  Chain 2.  You will notice again that this row continues to tighten things up, even though you used the same number of stitches as in the previous row.

Row 4: Single crochet in the next stitch.  Skip one stitch.  Single crochet in the next two stitches, skip one, single crochet in two, skip one….until the end of the row.  Join.  Chain 2.  In this row, you  are decreasing by one third.  Your pattern is:  single crochet, single crochet, skip.  It is OK if you have an extra stitch or two at the end of the row that don’t complete the pattern.  Things are tightening up so fast that you will not be able to see this in the finished hat.

Row 5-?: Repeat the pattern of Row 4 until you only have about 5-8 stitches for your whole last row.  Join.  Chain 1.  Cut, leaving a 6 inch tail.  Slip tail through chain and knot.    

D.   Finishing: 

With a darning needle,  use the tail at the crown of the hat to sew up the center hole tightly.   Weave any extra yarn back into the hat on the reverse (inside) of the hat, so it doesn’t show.  Weave any other yarn ends back into the reverse of the hat. 

These hats look great with tassels.  You can also add a decorative edging around the band of the hat.  Turn the hat upside down and single crochet around the bottom edge with a contrasting color.  If you use wool yarn, you can also make an extra big hat and wash and dry it to shrink and felt it.