Floral Summer Sun Hat

Inspired by the photos of the little Russian girl’s sunhat I saw a few years ago when it went viral, I wanted to create my own unique summer sunhat. I’ve tried to make hats like this before and did manage an adult size hat with a similar design. I’d used Aunt Lydia’s thread for that and it turned out well although a little on the heavy side for the light summer hat I was aiming for. Since then, I’ve been casually on the look out for a more suitable yarn.

Last month I was browsing in my local craft store and discovered the relatively new, Red Heart It’s a Wrap soft cotton blend yarn over with the crochet thread. I thought it would be perfect for the light summer hat I envisioned so I picked out a skein of ‘Comedy’ with it’s vibrant pink, blue and green. Unlike variegated yarn, Comedy consists of three separate colours bundled together, which gave me individual colours to play around with and incorporate into my hat design. The result was this bright and cheery summer sun hat, with it’s gently twisting ribbing and a simple yet elegant floral applique.

The challenges of this project include the patience needed to work with this fine yarn and also the constant colour changing. These two challenges are actually a good match though since once you master the tricky colour changing skill and the hat gets bigger, the colour changing keeps things interesting and encourages momentum. This pattern is written to be easy to follow and simple to adapt so that a hat of any size can be produced. The hat I made is a loose fit on a three year old and snug fit on an adult, so if you want to make it in a different size just skip or add some increase rounds, then do the same on the rounds that make the length of the hat. The increase rounds on the brim follow on from where I stopped increasing at the top of the hat, so you will need to adjust this accordingly too.
Hook – D/3 – 3.25mm

Yarn – 1 skien of Red Heart It’s a Wrap in Comedy (3 in 1 – pink, blue, light green)

The hat starts out at the top with the green that forms the ribbing. Pink is introduced on round two which grows to form the panels between the ribs. The body of the hat ends with two lines of green, before the pink brim expands outward. The hat is finished off with a line of green sc then backward sc to create a rope like edging. Vines, flowers and leaves are added to decorate the hat.

MC – Pink        CC – Green

Using CC, make a magic ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3, 11 DC in ring, Pull up a loop of MC to sl st in 3rd ch. (12 DC)

Rnd 2: Ch 1, pull up loop of CC to make 2nd ch. FPDC around 1st DC switching to MC on last loop of FPDC. *DC in top of next DC switch to CC on last loop. FPDC around same DC, switch to MC on last loop. Rep from * around. Sl st in top of 1st FPDC. (24 DC)

Rnd 3: Ch2, DC in top of FPDC switch to CC on last loop, *FPDC around FPDC switch to MC on last loop,  2 DC in top of FPDC switch to CC on last loop. Rep from * around. Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (36 DC)

Rnd 4: Ch 2, 2 DC in top of FPDC, switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in next, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (48 DC)

Rnd 5: Ch 2, DC in next, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 2, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (60 DC)

Rnd 6: Ch 2, DC in each of next 2,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 3, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (72 DC)

Rnd 7: Ch 2, DC in each of next 3,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 4, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (84 DC)

Rnd 8: Ch 2, DC in each of next 4,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 5, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (96 DC)

Rnd 9: Ch 2, DC in each of next 5,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 6, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (108 DC)

Rnd 10: Ch 2, DC in each of next 6,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 7, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (120 DC)

Rnd 11: Ch 2, DC in each of next 7,  2 DC in next (top of FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 8, 2 DC in next (top of FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (132 DC)

Rnds 12-24: Ch 2, DC in each of next 7,  2 DC in next (DC before the FPDC), switch to CC and *FPDC around FPDC. Switch to MC. Skip next, DC in each of next 8, 2 DC in next (DC before the FPDC) switch to CC. Rep from * around.Finish with a sl st in MC into top of 1st DC. (132 DC)

Rnd 25: Use CC to Ch 1, and Sc in each around except fpdcs, fpdc around fpdcs, sl st to join in top of 1st sc. (132)

Rnd 26: Ch 1, Sc in each around, sl st to join in top of 1st sc. Switch to MC and fasten off CC.

Rnd 27: Use MC to Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 10, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 10. Rep from * around, sl st to join (144 sc)

Rnd 28: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 11, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 11. Rep from * around, sl st to join (156 sc)

Rnd 29: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 12, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 12. Rep from * around, sl st to join (168 sc)

Rnd 30: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 13, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 13. Rep from * around, sl st to join (180 sc)

Rnd 31: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 14, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 14. Rep from * around, sl st to join (192 sc)

Rnd 32: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 15, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 15. Rep from * around, sl st to join (204 sc)

Rnd 33: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 16, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 16. Rep from * around, sl st to join (216 sc)

Rnd 34: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 17, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 17. Rep from * around, sl st to join (228 sc)

Rnd 35: Ch 1, sc in same space, sc in each of next 18, *2 sc in next, sc in each of next 18. Rep from * around, sl st to join (240 sc)

Rnd 36: Use CC to Ch 1. Sc in each around.

Rnd 37: Ch 1. Sc backwards in each around.
Flowers – Blue (make 2)

Start with a magic ring.

Rnd 1: ch 5, [sc in magic ring, ch 4] 4 times. Slip stitch to join in 1st chain.  Do not close ring tight.

Rnd 2: Working in each chain space [sl st, ch 1, sc, hdc, dc, ch 3, dc, hdc, sc, ch 1, sl st] to make 5 petals.

Rnd 3: Working behind the petal, sl st in magic ring, ch 6, [dc in magic ring in middle of next petal, ch 4] sl st in 3rd ch to join.

Rnd 4: Repeat round 2. Sl st and fasten off.

Leaves – Green (make 3)

Ch 12, sl st in 2nd ch from hk. Sc in next, hdc in next, dc in each of next 6, hdc in next, 3 sc in last. Working along bottom of foundation chain, hdc in next, dc in each of next 6, hdc in next, sc in next, sl st and fasten off.

Surface slip stitch to make the vines. To do this, hold the thread inside the hat and use the hook to pull a loop through to the front. Pull a loop through the next gap and make a slip stitch. At the ends of lines you can pull the loop through to the back and chain to reach the start of the next line then pull the loop back through to the front and continue working.

Sew the leaves and flowers on. I sewed my leaves around the posts of the stitches to preserve the leaf outlines. Sew the flowers on by the centre first to get the right position, then sew around the outline of the back petals. I sewed some beads into the centre of the flowers for extra decoration.

If you’d like to feature this pattern on your website, you have my permission to use 1 photo as long as you provide a link back to my site.