Crocheting a Baby Beanie

I crocheted my little girlfriend a beanie this past week. And even though it's just a hat, it's totally a big deal because 1. Dude. I made my kid something and 2. I have like 37 projects current "in progress" so to check one off the list was freeing.

I wanted to write this post for anyone out there that is new to crocheting like me. This beanie is the third thing I've ever crocheted. Ever. So I'm very new at this. And while the hat itself was simple I had one helluva time simply making the 'magic ring' which is how to begin a hat like this one. Laugh all you want but the tutorials were not making sense to me. But I'm the same person that would take an entire notebook page to solve a basic Algebra problem in college and the professor would say: there's a much easier way to get the answer. But my brain didn't understand that "easier" way. So the magic ring is like the 30-ish year old version of my 20-ish year old self's Algebra issue.

So I tried tutorial after tutorial but finally, FINALLY found one that clicked in this complicated head of mine. Check it out here.

And the pattern I used for the hat, it was a simple but cute pattern. And knocked it out in a few hours while watching Netflix in bed while my little monster slept soundly beside me.

The pom-pom took me three tries to get to my liking. I used the tutorial's (that I linked to above) cardboard method.

Also, this being my first hat I didn't know you needs to 'block' it afterward. But you do. And I did. And it definitely made a world of a difference in the end result. I googled how to block acrylic and I quickly learned there's some serious sass in the crochet world about whether you block acrylic or not. So serious.

Bottom line: do it. The method I did was this: I found a bowl. No joke. That I guessed to be close to the size of my kiddo's head. I put the hat on said bowl and pulled it down so that the edge of the hat folded under the bowl (so that it wasn't stretched out, if that makes sense). Then I took my iron and used the steam setting and steamed the entire hat. Hold the iron about two inches from the hat. Don't touch it with the iron. As you do the position the hat exactly how you want it to look in the end. Then let it dry in that position.

I let it sit about 24 hours just to be safe. And it fits my boo thang perfectly.

Oh, and just as a warning, the pattern says an H hook will give you a 9-12 month sized hat but I used an H and the hat fits my newly seven month old perfect. And homegirl has a smallish head (25th percentile for the win!).

So that wraps it up. I hope I was able to help anyone that's new to the crochet game. If you have any more crochet tips/tricks leave 'em in the comments below! Lord knows I could use them.

Happy hat-making!