Abstract
The beautiful pictures of the little girl in the crochet cloche hats had been circulating on Facebook for a few months. ?The avid crocheter that I am decided to try and make one after being challenged by a friend. ? However on further inspection the patterns or you tube help available are in Russian! ?This paper details the methods used to determine the pattern, the sizing, the yarn, the Youtube experience, and most of all a good friendship on the other side of the world.
Introduction
I’d googled the pattern, clicked on the link, found all the info I needed … and then hit the stumbling block of ‘it’s all in Russian’. A few attempts to follow the pattern in Russian were disastrous, ending in lots of undoing. I thought – I can crochet – why can’t I follow what these ladies are doing?
Then google found the most perfect link. A lovely lady in Australia (Louise) had worked out the pattern. Off I set with my hook and yarn and made a pretty little pink number.
Then I emailed Louise and about the brim – we both played a little bit with the brims (above shows my first attempt), and then I ‘cracked it’ I’m very happy to say! So with Louise and I together we have the hat in English – see the patterns below.
Now this is where my scientific nature took over. What good is a pattern if accuracy, reproducibility, and method specifics aren’t written down?
Materials
2.0mm hook
2.5mm hook
A skilled crocheter
Yarnart Begonia – 1 ball and a few oddments for decoration (you can purchase it here)
Method
Red Haired Amazona – details the whole pattern in her blog here.
My method for the brim is found here.
Sizing
The only way to vary the size of the hat is by increasing or decreasing the initial number of double crochets made within the magic ring.
For this criteria – the yarn, hook size and crocheter (me) were kept constant. Diameters were measured at the point just before the 3 rows of single crochet by the brim
15 sections (1 chain 3 and 14 DC = 15.5cm
16 sections (1 chain 3 and 15 DC) = 18.5cm
17 sections (1 chain 3 and 16 DC) = 21.5cm
The hats do stretch after a few wears – so I it worth bearing that in mind.
A quick and easy flower pattern to go on the hats can be found here>>>
I’m lucky enough to have a model to try them on for size.
The length you need to make the hats before adding the brim (which starts with the 3 rows of SC) is approximately 15 rows of the spiral pattern.
Alternative brims
- As per my pink hat – for a more chunky brim – FPDC, BPDC all the way round.
- Another alternative for a slightly fuller brim – on the 3rd row of SC add an increase on every 7th stitch.
Results
The brims all turn out exactly the same every time when using my link above.
The hat pattern takes 1 ball of Yarnart Begonia – plus little bits for the flower / leaf details.
15 sections = age under 3
16 sections = age 3-6
17 sections =age 7+
Each hat takes on average 4-5 hours plus then the decoration and sewing together.
The yarn choice makes a huge difference to the size of the hats – if using another yarn – please bear that in mind.
Conclusions – see the end of the post
The Movie
So I talked about a friendship that has developed as part of my hat journey. It’s with the lovely Louise from Red Haired Amazona. We email/ Facebook all the time about everything from daily life to crochet.
We’ve even had a skype chat this week which was an interesting experience with 2 non computer savvy ladies! Having ‘chatted virtually’ for so long to actually put a voice to her was great! So why were we chatting finally after all this time I hear you ask?
Well – we decided to share a English translation of the wonderful patterns with you all on youtube! An Ozzie/ English collaboration spanning 1000’s of miles and a good few time zones. I sound incredibly posh (I don’t normally I hasten to add), and Louise’s videos are brilliant at showing you what to do.
Do you want to see them? Well here are the links.
Little girls Cloche parts 1 and 2 can be found at Red Haired Amazona
Little girls cloche my You tube debut –
Conclusions
That picture of the lovely little Russian girl that was on Facebook a couple of months ago and my friends challenging me has a lot to answer for!
- I’ve been all to consumed by this hat and the patterns, and have woken up in the middle of the night desperate to carry on crocheting to see what they turn out like.
- I’ve made my youtube debut (after painting my fingernails as I’d just been gardening – they are never normally painted).
- To film something on a camera phone, use a wine box balanced on top of a breakfast bar with your camera cantilevered in place with a heavy book!
- I’m learning how to use my ‘proper’ camera correctly.
- I’ve learnt that?my daughter is very photogenic, but she doesn’t look good in yellow (see below).
- I’m now writing a blog and designing more patterns to share.
- And?have made a lovely friend on the other side of the world, that if this little hat hadn’t been made I wouldn’t of ever found.
Here are a few of the hats I’ve made along this journey – do you have a favourite?
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- Share a picture on Instagram and tag me #offthehookforyou
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Disclaimer
This post may contain affiliate links which I earn a small commission from if you choose to click and purchase anything from. You pay the same price, I get a very small amount for sending you their way. It helps me to make my crochet patterns free on the blog.
