I’d seen the hat photos on facebook a few weeks ago and ignored them – too tricky and not right for our current UK climate – you know the ones…..
Then a couple of days ago a good friend challenged me to make one, one friend I could ignore, then two others pipped up on my facebook timeline saying of course I could make one of these.
I like a challenge (ask my husband about my driving test), so I decided to have a go! A quick phone call to my local haberdashery to ask if they sold such a thing as Mercerized cotton, which they did – so off I set. I got there to find out the cotton they had was completely wrong, but luckily they had a few balls of this wonderful pink colour which should do the job. It’s called Katia Brisa colour 13 ???
So with tiny crochet hooks at the ready (a 2.5mm and 2.0mm), I started. I tried following this link
which all looks great – until you realise it’s all in Russian! I then tried a youtube video, again, no luck – well this is what I ended up with………..
I don’t think I have ever started and undone a project so many times in my entire life! But give up I did not… and I very luckily stumbled across this blog – from Louise in Australia …. and she saved my crochet reputation!
All of a sudden I was off – and I got so excited I forgot to take any pictures of the stages (but Louise does this for me)
I was well away – until I got to the brim
Three rows on single crochet on a 2.0mm hook is not kind to the hands!
But then the brim – I read Louise’s instructions, started and stopped, ended up with twice as many stitches as I needed, undid it again, started, and again got it wrong. Louise even gives step by step pictures – but could I manage it – nope!
Then I had a eureka moment. I went back to the original pictures and studied what the brims looked like – then plan B was born.
The brim I have done is a follows straight after the final row of single crochet here
Chain 3, DC in the same stitch, then *FPDC, BPDC* and continue the * * until the end, then each row is the same. I like Louise stopped after 5 rows in total as my fingers hurt.
But this is the effect:
Then as the sun was shining I got my little girl to pose in it outside (not finished but hey)
A couple more edging rows, then the final single crochet all the way round.
Then onto flowers……
The rose I decided on was this one
Leaves – I made up – a cross of, Chain 11, 1SC in the 2nd chain from the hook, then 1HDC, 1DC, 1TC, 1TC, 1DC, 1HDC, 1SC, then slip stitch over to the end, and chain at least 11 more and repeat, then do about 16 chains before the last leaf.
The bigger leaves follow the above instructions, but when I got the end I turned round and went up the other end of the chain.
The little blue flowers – were a chain 6, 3DC in the chain furthest from the hook, chain 5, *SS then chain 5, 3DC, chain 5*. Repeat * -* until you’ve got 5 petals and pull tight! Add a couple of buttons and it looks pretty good I think.
Apologies for my daughters grubby face – but here she is showing off her new hat!
I love this photo of her……..
but I think my favourite photo is …….
Vicki that’s just gorgeous!
I love how the flowers bring the whole thing to life!
Your little model is adorable too! I think your adjustments to the brim are spot on and I’m going to update the pattern in my blog to mention your adjustments 🙂
Holy smokes I’ve been struggling with the same blasted hat until I ran into Louise’s (and then your) blog! Thanks for posting this – really like the brim! I think I might have permanent grooves in my fingers where the yarn passed over 🙂
I’m glad we are not alone!!!! Yep – the brim is a killer – good news though – I’ve tried it on a slightly larger hook (2.5mm), and it’s fine – and a lot less painful! I’m experimenting with the “other” hats and brims so keep an eye out for my blog next week!
just a quick question about the brim. did you continue using size 2 hook?
Hi, For this pink hat – yes – I continued with the 2.0mm hook, but I’ve since made a purple one (which I’ll post pictures of soon as it’s a different design) and used a 2.5mm hook for that one- both turned out fine – and the 2.5mm was easier on my hands!
[…] summer hats, very intricate and covered in beautiful flowers and beads. You can see how I did it here with the help of Louise’s […]
[…] that hat, and then the other hat, I decided to play with the brim yet again. In the original wonderful […]
[…] Louise (from Red Haired Amazona) and I have been emailing over the last few days about the brim of the spiral hat. She very helpfully (for all English speaking crocheter’s) worked out a version of the spiral hat pattern, but I changed the brim she had worked out (you can find out how/ why here). […]
I’ve loved this little hat from day one when I first saw it. . . it is absolutely super cute and I’m so delighted that I found you guys who did an excellent job on deciphering the pattern. Thanking you kindly and keep up with your awesome patterns.
YARN ART BEGONIA NEXED
I really like the swirl crochet hat and would like to know if you have the completed pattern. If so where can I get it? Please let me know and thank you for your hard work.
Linda
Hi, The pattern was written up by my good friend Louise – from Red Haired Amazona. You can get her instructions here http://redhairedamazona.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/russian-little-girls-cloche-hat-pattern.html, and then the brim from one of my blog post
I have been trying to find the correct weight/ply of the yarn to make the summer Cloche hat for some toddlers. Yours are beautiful, but it seems like you used the 4 ply yarn. My first attempt I used a cotton 4 ply and it turned out as an adult size hat. Any yarn ply size suggestions please!
I use Yarnart Begonia for most of the hats – the yarn makes a huge difference….. it’s a 4 ply mercerised cotton but only uses a 2.25 a 2.5mm hook – very different to most cottons you can buy. Have a look on eBay or Etsy maybe.