A soft yet chunky, boyish yet beautiful beanie. I’m so pleased with how it turned out, despite the monumental fudge that went into completing the ribbed brim (need to practice that one). Best of all, I learned a new stitch and some very neat tricks along the way, such as how to do a Chainless Starting Double Crochet (Treble in UK terms) and the Standing Double Crochet (UK: Treble). How I wish I'd known about these before I started all those squares...
The pattern is by Tamara Kelly and you can get it for free from her rather awe-inspiring blog, Moogly. Though there are lots of patterns for crochet hats to be found on ‘t Interweb, what I liked in particular about this one is that it’s not “novelty”. It’s stylish enough that you could make it for an older child or even an adult and indeed, the pattern comes in a range of sizes.
I made the “toddler” size and it’s perfect for the Bean: big enough to leave a little room for growth, but not so big it’ll end up over his eyes. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, with links to further tutorials included in case there are any stitches or techniques you’re not familiar with. I just made two changes to Tamara’s pattern: I used two colours instead of three, and to make the brim I switched from a 6 mm hook to a 3.5 mm one, to make it a little more snug and neat.