Rayon Straw Hat - 1960s Hats & Purses Pattern Strikes Again

This is another hat from the 1960's Hats and Purses pattern. This is view C (the easy version).

What's terrific about this hat is that it was made using yarn from my stash. No yarns were purchased to make this hat. I was poking around in my boxes of yarn, trying to find yarn that I was willing to part with for my son's Project Linus contribution, and I found the spools of Rayon Straw Yarn. We had purchased the spools a couple of years ago, then I decided to abandon the project I was working on for some reason.

This is the Rayon Straw Yarn I used to make the hat.

Bernat 100% Rayon Straw Yarn from BagsandBows.com

Close-up of center crown.

The hat worked up really quickly into a form fitting hat.

I will be heading home to see my family, and will give the hat to Alison who will test the hat for comfort, durability and color-fastness. She can provide a full report on her findings once she completes her job as my crash-test dummy. I know she will be so excited to contribute a blog post. Yay sis!

Happy crocheting!

A Hat from My Stash Yarn - That's How Started, Anyway

When Alison showed me the picture of these three hats, from this pattern, I knew I had to make one or two of them. The one in the center was just so dang cute - it had to be my first project from the pattern. The only caveat for making these hats was that the yarn has to come from my stash. I am not buying any new yarn. I have full and partial skeins galore. More yarn than I will ever make into hats to wear or to sell, even if I live to be 150 years old. That's how it started, anyway.

The pattern calls for a straw-like yarn,
which is difficult to find and expensive.

We had to go to a craft store to get supplies for a middle school project. I happened to notice that they had yarn on sale. We decided to get a skein of yarn to donate to his leadership class - they are learning to crochet in order to make squares for an afghan or two to donate to a local organization. Since we were buying a skein for school, I decided I would get one for myself as well. So I have a pretty summer green hat. So much for using up my yarn stash.

This is the easy version of the All-American hat. I decided not to do the loops on this hat since I'm not much of a loop-wearing gal. The color of the hat in the top is closest to the actual color.

So these cute little hats are crocheted. Great, that means fast and easy. The picture shows a fun brimmed hat. That's the beginner level of the hat. The advanced level features a crown made of looped crochets. I wanted to make the looped crochet crown, but I didn't have enough of the grey yarn. Those little loops eat up a lot of yarn.

I started the looped crown, just to see what it would look like. I didn't have enough yarn to finish, so I took these pics then ripped it out and going work to the beginning level hat. The crown is made of non-looped crochet fabric. Then we went to the craft store, and I found my green yarn. And the dark grey yarn was no longer a great fit for the pattern.

There are a bunch of different methods to make the crocheted loops. I used this video to see how to make the loop stitch.

Close-up of the pattern stitches.

I had hoped to use my stash. But I love this kicky spring color. You can find the pattern in our store.

Happy crocheting!