I suppose I should start by issuing a warning that this post contains images of naked breasts – crochet breasts that is, but if you are sensitive then you may wish to skip past this one!
I have seen these hats on social media and ravelry before and had a little giggle to myself wishing I was brave enough to dress my baby in one. They seem to be doing the rounds on social media again and when a friend asked me to make one for her little girl I jumped at the chance. After searching through a load of patterns I couldn’t really find one that I liked so decided to wing it and make my own.
This is the finished result. I hope you like it!
I used RICO baby cotton soft DK and tried a few hook sizes to get the size right. I found that a 4mm made a hat that would fit a smaller baby, perhaps 0-3 months, and a 4.5mm gave a bit more stretch and would fit a 3-6month old I guess.
Please bear with me as I have never written down a pattern before but here goes…
Round 1 (pink): start with a magic ring and complete 6 sc inside the ring and tighten. Slip stitch to the first stitch. (6)
Round 2: chain 1. Sc in each stitch. Slip stitch into the first stitch (6)
Round 3: repeat round 2
(If you want a taller nipple you can add another repeat of found 2, or if you want a shorter nipple then you may want to leave out round 3)
Round 4: chain 1. 2 dc in each stitch. Slip stitch into the first (12).
Round 5: chain 1, 2 dc in each stitch. Slip stitch into the first (24). Tie off pink yarn.
Round 6 (skin colour): Standing dc in the back loop of any stitch, 2dc in the back loop of the next stitch, 1dc in the back loop of the next, 2dc in the back of the next etc. Repeat 1,2,1,2 pattern until the end. Join with a slip stitch. (36). By crocheting just into the back loops on this round makes the nipple stand out slightly.
Round 7: chain 1. 1 dc in first stitch, 1 dc in second stitch, 2 dc in the third etc. Repeat the 1,1,2,1,1,2 pattern to the end. Join with a slip stitch. (48)
Round 8: chain 1, 1 dc in first stitch, 1 dc in second stitch, 1 dc in the third, 2 dc in the forth stitch etc. Repeat the 1,1,1,2,1,1,1,2 pattern to the end. Join with a slip stitch. (60).
Round 9: we now start the shell stitches. Chain 1. Sc in the first stitch, skip 2 stitches and 5dc in the 4th stitch. Skip 2 stitches, sc in the 7th stitch. Skip 2 stitches and 5dc in the 10th stitch. Skip 2 and sc in the 13th stitch. These are the shells. Continue the shell pattern around (10 shells in total). Use a slip stitch to join into the first sc.
Round 10. Chain 1. 5dc in the 1st stitch. (This is the first sc from the last round, the same stitch as the slip stitch). Skip 2 stitches and sc in the next (this is the centre dc of your first shell). Skip 2 stitches and 5dc in the next (this is the sc between the shells on your previous round). Continue in the same pattern until the end. End on a sc in the top of your last shell and join with a sc in the first dc.
Round 11: slip stitch into the next stitch (this is the 4th dc of the shell). Chain 1. Sc in the next stitch (the middle of the shell). Skip 2 and 5dc in the next. Skip 2 and sc in the top of the next shell etc. Repeat to the end. Finish by slip stitching into the sc at the top of your first shell.
Repeat rounds 10 and 11 until your hat is long enough. I didn’t add an edge on mine as I felt that it was pretty enough just leaving the shells.
I hope that this pattern makes sense. I am not confident using brackets and repeats so I hope that you can figure it out as you go along. Let me know how you get on! 🙂
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