I promised Charlotte I’d post the instructions for these quick & easy hats, so here goes, in both UK English & American English! Use up scrap yarns & part balls – I haven’t measured the yardage but as a rough guide, you can get two out of one small ball of DK yarn – but not on its own… 

One small but useful tip when fingercrocheting in general: have a carrot or something similar (a parsnip would do) within easy reach. Then if the doorbell rings, you can slip the work off your finger & onto the carrot, and you will not be trotting down the hallway trailing 5 balls of yarn and an interested cat… using something smooth like a pen is not ideal, it falls out too easily.

Fingercrochet beret-style hat – UK pattern:

Take 4-6* yarns, depending on thickness, in colours that appeal to you; at least one should be chunky or aran-weight if you are aiming for a warm hat, and one with a bit of “halo” and/or eyelash is good too. Find the ends, hold them all together & treat the resulting bundle of strands as one yarn from here on in. As you go along, check periodically that you still have all your yarns working; it’s easy to “drop” one, then you have to unravel to pick it back up again.

Beginning chain: Make a slipknot & place on whichever finger you find most comfortable to use as your “hook”. Make a chain (Ch) long enough to fit snugly round your head at the point you’d expect a hat brim to sit, then slipstitch (SS) into the first chain, forming a ring. (I generally need 28-30 chains to go round my head, using my ring finger as hook.)

Round 1: Ch 1, double crochet (DC) into the top of the same stitch, i.e. leaving two strands below your finger as you reach through to pick up the yarn at the back, and one above. DC into each chain right around the ring & SS into the top of the Ch1.

Round 2: Ch2, then treble (Tr) into the same stitch, going under the bar, then Tr under the bar of each DC round the ring. SS into the top of the Ch2. At this point you should have a flat ring.

Round 3: Ch 2, Tr into the top of the next stitch (I like to have two strands above my finger here, rather than going under the bar) then work a Tr Dec into the top of the next two stitches, i.e. YO, go through stitch & pick up yarn & pull back through, YO, and pull through the first two loops, leaving two loops on your finger. YO, through next stitch, pick up, back through, YO and pull off the first two loops, then YO again and pull off the remaining three. Tr Dec all the way round the ring; if you have one stitch left, work another Tr, then SS into top of the Ch 2.

Round 4: Ch 2, Tr into the top of the next stitch,  then work Tr Dec right round the ring, which will be considerably smalller now. SS into top of Ch 2.

Repeat if you need to until the space left in the centre is only about 2-3″ (5-8cm) across. SS to join, then you can either pull up loops through one stitch then the next, YO and pull all three loops off together (Dc dec), right round, or simply pull up loops through each stitch in turn around the ring (probably about 6) YO and pull them all off together; this will result in a flatter, beret-style top. Ch 1, snip your yarn & pull through to finish.

Weave ends in, or make a feature of them by using them to stitch on a pompom, make a braid including them, or simply use them to stitch or tie something else on! Hat finished… On a good day, I can do one of these in under 30 minutes.

* Use your common sense  if you are using a supechunky art yarn, you may only need one yarn. If you’re using machine-knitting yarns, I’d recommend a minimum of 5 strands.

  

Fingercrochet beret-style hat – US pattern:

Take 4-6* yarns, depending on thickness, in colours that please you; at least one should be bulky or chunky if you are aiming for a warm hat, and one with a bit of “halo” and/or eyelash is good too. Find the ends, hold them all together & treat the resulting bundle of strands as one yarn from here on in. As you go along, check periodically that you still have all your yarns working; it’s easy to “drop” one, then you have to unravel to pick it back up again.

Beginning chain: Make a slipknot & place on whichever finger you find most comfortable to use as your “hook”. Make a chain (Ch) long enough to fit snugly round your head at the point you’d expect a hat brim to sit, then slipstitch (SS) into the first chain, forming a ring. (I generally need 28-30 chains to go round my head, using my ring finger as hook.)

Round 1: Ch 1, single crochet (SC) into the top of the same stitch, i.e. leaving two strands below your finger as you reach through to pick up the yarn at the back, and one above. SC into each chain right around the ring & SS into the top of the Ch1.

Round 2: Ch2, then double crochet (DC) into the same stitch, going under the bar, then DC under the bar of each SC round the ring. SS into the top of the Ch2. At this point you should have a flat ring.

Round 3: Ch 2, DC into the top of the next stitch (I like to have two “strands” above my finger here, rather than going under the bar) then work a DC Dec into the top of the next two stitches, i.e. YO, go through stitch & pick up yarn & pull back through, YO, and pull through the first two loops, leaving two loops on your finger. YO, through next stitch, pick up, back through, YO and pull off the first two loops, then YO again and pull off the remaining three. DC Dec all the way round the ring; if you have one stitch left, work another DC, then SS into top of the Ch 2.

Round 4: Ch 2, DC into the top of the next stitch,  then work DC Dec right round the ring, which will be considerably smalller now. SS into top of Ch 2.

Repeat if you need to until the space left in the center is only about 2-3″ across. SS to join, then you can either pull up loops through one stitch then the next, YO and pull all three loops off together (SC dec), right round, or simply pull up loops through each stitch in turn around the ring (probably about 6) YO and pull them all off together; this will result in a flatter, beret-style top. Ch 1, snip your yarn & pull through to finish.

Weave ends in, or make a feature of them by using them to stitch on a pompom, make a braid including them, or simply use them to stitch or tie something else on! Hat finished… On a good day, I can do one of these in under 30 minutes.

* Use your common sense  if you are using a superchunky art yarn, you may only need one yarn. If you’re using machine-knitting yarns, I’d recommend a minimum of 5 strands.