Hats for Christmas

Halloween's not even over and I've already been crocheting for Christmas. This year I want to make hand-made gifts for Christmas. That's my goal and hope. We'll see if I actually succeed at that. I've started by making a men's hat. I wanted to make a skull cap but didn't want to knit one. I looked for crochet patterns but some were too "fancy" and I knew none of the men I knew would like that. I found a nice crochet hat pattern at the Lion Brands website and downloaded the free pattern. It's pictured as a woman's hat but I saw a number of samples in a men's version of this hat. The pattern is called the Metropolitan Ave Hat and has a nice texture and is very quick to crochet.

The challenge with this is, the pattern called for a bulky weight yarn, which I've never worked with. I used Loops & Threads Cozy Wool in Granite. This yarn is 50% wool and 50% acrylic. Using a 9 mm crochet hook, as recommended, I was able to make the gauge sample but when I crocheted the hat it turned out too big...even for my hubby's head. This shouldn't have been a surprise to me (but it was), I have always needed needles in a size smaller whenever I've crocheted or knitted. The difficulty was, I couldn't find an 8 mm or 7 mm crochet hook anywhere. So, I made my second hat using the biggest needle I had - a 6.5 mm - and it turned out too small for my husband, but did fit my sons!

Younger son ...with thread still attached, in case it didn't fit and I had to unravel.

It fit him but was a little snug.

Older son...hat fit him perfectly and cozy - true to the yarn's name. 

Assuming this was an early Christmas surprise hat, he claimed ownership. 

Merry Early Christmas!

I'm determined to find the needle size I need and make a few more of this hat!