My Favourite Free Crochet Hat Patterns

I love a good crocheted winter hat pattern, here are some of my favourites.

What do you call a snug fitting pull on wooly winter hat in your part of the world? Earlier in the year we went to Canada and discovered that there they are called 'toques' or is it 'touques'? I am familiar with the US 'beanie' as that's what we call them here in the UK - unless they have a pom pom on top and then it's called a 'bobble hat'.
Whatever they are called, they are a cold weather essential and they are a lovely thing to knit or crochet. I prefer to crochet hats, anything round is much easier to crochet in my opinion, and with a fairly substantial yarn you can whip one up in an evening. 
I thought I'd share a few of my favourite crochet hat patterns, the ones I've actually tried out and had success with. 
I LOVE this puff stitch beanie pattern from The Wee House of Crochet.

It is perfect for someone who is a beginner, maybe someone who has only done granny squares up to know. It's a great chance to expand your stitch repertoire but it's still a simple pattern to follow.  I made mine in an grey Aran yarn I picked up from Aldi, but any worsted or aran weight would work. Lovely with a pom pom or without.

  Doing a rib effect with crochet is actually really easy. This cute Lolly-Poms Easy Ribbed Crochet Beanie from One Dog Woof is a great pattern to practice the technique. 

I made this in the same Aldi yarn but again any aran or worsted will work. 

As you can see, this is the hat I made the rainbow pom pom for. Find out how to make them (it's easy) here.
The last hat I've made in this grey aran yarn is this V Stitch Beanie from Over the Apple Tree. 

Mine looks a slightly different shape to the original pattern but I think that's just the way it's lying on the table. The flower pattern I used is this free one from Mollie Makes Magazine, it's one of my favourites.

This was another 'simple to follow' pattern and I love the little edging which was another new stitch for me to learn.  Another of my favourite free crochet hat patterns is this lovely plaid hat from Whistle and Ivy.

I made a version of this for myself last year and it became my go to for every cold day.

The pattern for this is for a worsted / aran weight too but I made mine using DK which is a little thinner and it turned out just fine. 
Have you got a fabulous free crochet hat pattern you'd like to share? Add it to the link up below. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Rainbow Pom Poms

Rainbow Pom Poms are a brilliant way to use up all the little bits of yarn left over from other projects.

This is easy and quick, let's get stuck straight in! You will need: Sharp Scissors and Yarn, wool whatever you call it you'll need some different bits and pieces in a few bright colours. 

This is what I pulled out of my stash. You don't need this much - there is enough here to make about 30 pom poms! Just use up scraps, it doesn't matter what weight the yarn is, if it's fluffy or textured, it all works just fine.

Cut an arm length of one of your yarns. Choose a strong acrylic one (one that doesn't snap when you really pull it) Double it up and lay it between your middle finger.

Now start wrapping your different coloured yarns. Do between 8 and 10 wraps of each then change (1). Just leave the ends dangling. Stop when it looks a bit like photo(2) The more you wrap the fatter the pom pom will be.

Pull the length that you left between your fingers together and knot (3). Pull it as tight as you can then slide the bundle off your fingers (4) Pull the knotted yarn really tight and knot again. Wrap it round the bundle a couple of times and knot again.

Holding the pom pom by the long lengths of yarn cut the loops on both side.

You should have something that looks like this, a bit messy but nearly there.

 

Now grab your sharp scissors and start to trim. Hold the pom pom over a bin to catch all the little bits.

Trim a bit, give it a shake, fluff it in your hands and them trim a bit more until you are happy with your lovely rainbow pom pom. 

I love making pom poms like this, I don't have a fancy plastic pom pom maker and this is SO much quicker than the old cardboard ring method. I know some people think it is wasteful because you trim away a load of yarn but it honestly doesn't seem too too wastful to me. Here is what ended up in my bin after 1 pom pom:

I suppose how big your pom pom ends up depends on how big your hand is, I feel my hand is pretty average grown up lady size and my finished pom poms are about 2.5" (6cm) in diameter.

I LOVE these rainbow pom poms, I'll show you tomorrow what I used this one for. I'll be sharing this project at these link parties

Pom Pom Pen Pot

A simple glass jar upcycled with pom poms to make a fun bright and cheerful desk accessory.

Pom Pom all the things!

Over the last few weeks I've been sharing some Easter projects made courtesy of Hobbycraft and the selection of fun Easter crafting goodies they sent to me to try. Today's pen pot upcycle is not very Easter-y or Spring like but as I totally LOVE it I am unapologetic! 
One of the Supplies I received from Hobbycraft was this enormous bag of pom poms, all shapes and sizes and colours. I used some little white ones for these bunny tails and flower centres for my Spring Wreath.

But look at all these amazing bright pom poms...

Don't they just make you want to pom pom all the things?

I knew they needed to decorate something and I knew it had to be bright and fun.

You can't have too many pen pots, everyone needs pens and in a pot they are handy and ready to grab at a moments notice. If you can make one by upcycling an old container then all the better. 

To make a pom pom pen pot like mine you will need:

An old container, mine was a glass jam jar.

Pom Poms, mine were from this big bag from Hobbycraft

A hot glue gun

First wash your container, remove any labels and dry thoroughly.

Sort your pom poms - this was the best bit, it's very therapeutic to plunge your hands into a big bag of soft pom pom, trust me! I separated into a bowl all the ones which were about 1 cm in diameter. Your pot will look more even if you use pom poms that are all the same size. 

I only used the bright coloured pom poms for this, I didn't include black or white or the soft pink or yellow. You can use whatever colours you like but it is definitely worth getting them all ready in a bowl. Once you start gluing you want them easy to grab.

Now just hot glue the pom poms onto the jar. It's easiest to apply a 3 cm or so length of glue then press on 3 pom poms. Then just repeat. You want them pretty close together so there are no big gaps.

I started roughly in the middle and went all the way round in a circle, then added rows above and below. 

It would probably make more sense to start at the bottom and work your way up - I'm not entirely sure why I didn't do that! 

I went for a totally random colour scheme but you could do a fab pattern if you felt so inclined. 

That's it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy and you have a fabulous, colourful pom pom pen pot to brighten your day. Your desk will have never looked better! 

Doesn't it just make you want to pom pom all the things?! 

Update: This also helps if you are a little clumsy and drop pen pots on the floor occasionally - no breakages here - whoop whoop!

You might also be interested in:

Plastic tub Planter

Comic Covered Pen Pot

Ikea cactus gift wrap

Tetris Note Book

I'll be linking up at these great link parties, why not check them out!