The 12th Crocheter: Seahawks Crochet Hats

A couple of weeks ago, Stephen asked if I could crochet a Seahawks hat or scarf for his son’s birthday. I said that I would love to and he brought home some navy, green, and gray yarn. The next 12 days saw the construction of a cabled hat, two matching color twisting beanies, several puff-stitch flowers, and a stripey flowered hat. I had so much fun!! In today’s post, I’m going to walk through my two weeks of engaging in Seahawks crochet, rave about the patterns I used, and share how I used color to show everyone how we are a Seahawks family.

Before going too deeply into the crocheting of these hats, though, I would like to share that I completed the color twisting hat for Stephen at half time during the Indianapolis-Seattle game. He put it on for the second half. If you did not watch that game, let me tell you what happened:

(Football stuff here, if you’d like to, skip to the next paragraph for the upshot.) The Seahawks were supposed to demolish the Colts. Right before halftime, the Seahawks were down 15-10. Then, kicker Blair Walsh missed a 37-yard field goal attempt. On the first possession back from the half, the Seahawks scored a touchdown. There was an interception on their next possession, resulting in a field goal for the Colts, but after that, the Seahawks scored touchdowns on every one of their possessions and even one of the Colts’. In the first half of the game, the Seahawks scored 10 points to the Colts’ 15. In the second half of the game, the Seahawks scored 36 points to the Colts’ 3. I don’t think it could be anything but the hat.

Long story short: the hat is very lucky. Hence, it will be called the Lucky Second Half Beanie. Part of that probably comes from whispering “Go Hawks” while crocheting.

I used Caron Simply Soft in dark country blue and gray heather. The green yarn is a discount yarn that came in a plastic bag. I can’t figure out what the brand is. Caron Simply Soft has a green that is the same color. The cabled crochet hat used one strand of yarn and a G (4.25 mm) hook. The other three hats used two strands of yarn and a K (6.5 mm) hook. Let’s dive into crocheting these four Seahawks crochet hats!

Seahawks Crochet Hat #1: The cabled crochet hat

For this hat, I used the Crochet Cable Beanie pattern at Luqy and Mary YarnWorks. The pattern is fairly easy to follow and provides a link to a video tutorial about crocheting cables for extra help on getting your post stitches to appear to twist around one another. The decreases are explained well and the shape of the hat is nice. The instructions say you can resize from 88 beginning stitches to a different multiple of 11. As this hat is for a 13-year-old boy, I took it down to 77 starting stitches. It worked out perfectly.

The pattern has you work the hat from bottom up, which is wonderful if you can measure your starting row on the head of the person who will wear it. It also makes the decreases so satisfying when you get to them!

I thought the photos included with the pattern looked nice with two colors, so I chose to do two colors for this hat. The navy blue hat with green trim and a navy and green pompom is just what I was going for. Home game Seahawks colors. You would not believe the texture the cables give this hat. The hat works up thick and warm. Perfect for a cold winter day, especially if you use wool.

Seahawks Crochet Hat #2: Benjamin’s color twisting beanie

After crocheting the cabled crochet hat, I decided to have a Seahawks crochet weekend and started cranking out hats. I realized our 2-year-old needed a Seahawks hat, so next I made Benjamin’s color twisting beanie. No one can predict if he will keep a hat on his head at any given time, but he still needs the option of a Seahawks hat.

For this hat, I used the basic pattern for the Child Size Easy Peasy 30-Minute Beanie by Ashlea at Heart Hook Home. I mostly followed the pattern, but because I wanted Benjamin to be able to wear the hat next season too, I continued to increase in row 6. Additionally, I did not do the final row of crab stitch that Ashlea has on her pattern. The first six rows  use the blue and gray yarn held together. I then did one row of blue and green held together, followed by three more rows of the gray and blue. I finished with two rows of the blue and green held together. That’s a total of 12 rows with increases in the first six.

(Upon further clicking around, I realize that increasing in 6 rows is the same as Ashlea’s regular size Easy Peasy 30-Minute Beanie. But instead of doing 13 rows, I did 12. And no crab stitch final row.)

A floppy pompom tops the hat. I’m still working out the best way to do pompoms. (It’s a bit hit and miss at the moment.) When I find a good method, I’ll link to instructions or post a wonderful tutorial. In the meantime, I will leave it at “make a pompom the way you like to make pompoms.”

Seahawks Crochet Hat #3: Stephen’s Lucky Second Half Beanie

Stephen saw Benjamin’s color twisting beanie and said, “I want one just like it!” He put on Benjamin’s hat and we discovered that other than needing more length, the size was good. I used the regular size Easy Peasy 30-Minute Beanie (linked above) and did 14 rows. The first seven rows used the blue and gray yarns held together. The eighth row used the green and blue held together. Then I did four rows of the gray and blue, finishing with two rows of the green and blue. The same floppy pompom tops this hat.

As I mentioned, the game was not going well when halftime started. Walsh missed a 37-yard field goal attempt and Stephen had left the room thinking he was bringing bad luck by watching the game. I kept working on the hat, made a pompom and started weaving in ends. Just about the time half time was ending, I finished the hat and Stephen put it on. Next thing you know, the Seahawks couldn’t stop scoring touchdowns. This hat definitely has some good luck in it!

Seahawks Crochet Hat #4: Stripey Flowered Seahawks Hat

I had so much fun making this one. For the pattern, I followed the same beanie pattern as for the color twisting and lucky second half beanie. I did increases through row six and crocheted 13 rows. As I was crocheting, I decided to use just the gray and blue colors in the body of the hat and add green another way. While the colors are solid rather than twisty, I still held two strands of the yarn together. I did two rows of gray, three rows of blue, one row of gray, three rows of blue, three rows of gray, and finally one row of blue. (No crab stitch final row)

After I finished the body of the hat, I made a chain with the green yarn. Starting at the back seam, I wove it in and out of the double crochet stitches in a row of blue, closest to the gray. I did this five times, as you can see in the picture. For any given row of blue, I just made the chain about 10 stitches longer than the circumference of that row. (So I wrapped the chain around the hat to measure, then added 10 stitches when it was as long as the hat was around at the row where I wanted to use it.)

Puff stitch flowers have been calling my name for a while, so I heeded the call and made Seahawks crochet flowers. I used mamachee’s version of the pattern. To stitch them onto the hat, I threaded my yarn needle with the yarn the color of the flower petals and made stitches that matched the direction and length of the flower itself, securing on the inside of the hat.

Hats, hats, and more hats!

As I mentioned in my post about the ribbed crochet hat, crochet leads to more crochet. Sometimes that means starting a new project before finishing the previous one. But even better (as discussed in my post about how to become a better crocheter) is when successfully completing a project increases motivation to start and complete the next one. Finishing a hat made me want to make more. And then I want to show them off. I wore the Stripey Flowered Seahawks Hat yesterday for Blue Friday and I hope it has some good luck in it for this weekend. Between the officially licensed Seahawks gear we have and our unofficial Seahawks crochet stuff, we are ready for the rest of the season!