Huckleberry Love: Crochet Hello Kitty Hat {Tutorial}

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Crochet Hello Kitty Hat {Tutorial}

For the last couple of months my daughter has been, for lack of a better word, obsessed with Hello Kitty. I'm not surprised as to why, as it seems that everywhere you look right now, that cute little kitty with the over sized bow is staring right at you. Even McDonalds is featuring her in their Happy Meals.

Miss J is so entranced, that for my recent birthday, she insisted that I have a Hello Kitty birthday party. Yes, I know, I am 28 and haven't had a themed birthday party for as long as I can remember, but I am always willing to do things to make my little girl smile. And, don't tell anyone, but I secretly loved every second of it. :)

My Hello Kitty Birthday Party!

Anyway, back to doing things that make my little girl smile, I decided that I would make her a... you guessed it, Hello Kitty hat! Lately I have been making hats and toys for everyone else, but she needs something to cover that darling little head of hers too, so it's her turn now! Luckily for me, I found a great pattern here. Liz, from Crochet in Color, has some great, and best of all, free patterns on her blog and this happened to be one of them.

Can't Get Started Without:

~Worsted weight yarn in white, pink, yellow and black
~Size G and H crochet hooks
~Tapestry needle

This pattern is very simple. It requires only a knowledge of very basic crochet skills, which is great. All of the pieces are made individually and then sewn onto the hat to finish it off.

The pattern is written to fit a child to teen, but I must crochet tightly, because it is pretty tight on Miss J's head and she is only 3. I would recommend adding a few increase rows if you are making it for a bigger/older child.

I started by making the hat first. It is just a basic HDC hat with added earflaps. I love the pink border that is added to it. The pattern calls for a single row of sc for the border, but I decided to sc around twice to make the border thicker.

I then made the ears, eyes, nose and bow. The only piece that I followed the original pattern for was the nose. I added an extra round of sc to each eye and an extra round of sc to each ear. I decided to make the bow bigger than the original pattern because the bow is my favourite part of the hat. The original pattern calls for a ch 11 to start it but I ch'd 24. After I was done hdc'ing back and forth (like the pattern calls for) I went around the whole bow with a sc.

Finally, once all of my individual pieces were made, I sewed them onto the hat. As you can see in the picture, I originally sewed the eyes on way to high and close together. After further investigation of Miss J's Hello Kitty toys I realized the eyes were supposed to be almost in the same line as the nose and fairly wide apart. After my alteration, I think the hat looks much better!

To make the whiskers, I hand sewed them on. To keep them straight, sew into the stitches instead of the spaces between them.

Lastly, I added the braids. To make them, I cut 28 30" pieces of yarn. I then took 14 pieces and slipped them through each earflap to the center. Then a bit of loose braiding and a knot, and I had some cute braided strands.