Head Count

Learn to crochet a hat that fits, and make it for any head in the family: a newborn, a toddler, you, the biggest head you know.

Most hat patterns come in one or two sizes and assume you will match their gauge. This book is built around fit. Every hat comes in every size it suits, ten sizes from a 13¼ inch newborn head to a 26½ inch adult head, and you check the size twice while you work, so a hat that would come out wrong shows itself while it is still a small circle, not after the whole hat.

It starts before your first stitch. You never need to have held a hook.

What you will be able to do

• Measure a head properly and choose the size from the measurement, not a guess by age
• Make a gauge square and pick the hook that gives the book's stitch size
• Crochet the slip knot, chain, magic ring, half double crochet, single crochet and the slip-stitch join, then double crochet and front and back post stitches
• Grow a flat top circle to the right width, check it, and know what waves or a bowl shape mean
• Work the sides to the right height and finish with a band, ribbing, earflaps, stripes or a pom-pom
• Fix a hat that is too big, too small, too short or too long
• Work out a hat for any yarn and any head with the book's recipe, worksheet and gauge table

The five hats

1. The First Hat: plain half double crochet with a single crochet band, taught step by step. Sizes 1 to 10.
2. The Ribbed Beanie: the same hat with a front and back post stitch rib. Sizes 1 to 10.
3. Stripes and a Pom-pom: two colours changed cleanly at the join, and how to make a pom-pom (pom-pom from size 6 up). Sizes 1 to 10.
4. The Earflap Hat: flaps worked in rows, an edge all round and braided ties. Sizes 1 to 10.
5. The Chunky Slouch: chunky yarn and double crochet, long enough to slouch. Sizes 5 to 10.

How it is made easy to follow

• One size table, ten sizes: head range in inches and centimetres, the finished hat round, how wide the top circle should be, and the height.
• Every round and row ends with its stitch count, and every count was checked by a program that works each round over the one before.
• US and UK terms on every pattern line: each line is written in US terms with the UK version underneath.
• Real step photographs for every stitch, and pictures of hats on heads so you can see how a hat should sit.
• Yarn amounts for every size, worked out from the stitch counts (the largest First Hat needs about 145 yards of worsted).
• Fix-it pages for ruffled and cupped circles, holes, seams, and hats that are too big, small, short or long.

What you download

• Head Count (41 pages, PDF, US Letter): the whole book, in colour, with bookmarks.
• Pattern Cards (13 pages, PDF): each hat on one printable page in US terms, then again in UK terms.

Good to know

• Yarns: weight 4 (worsted / aran / 10 ply) for four hats, weight 5 (chunky / bulky / 12 ply) for the Chunky Slouch. Hooks 5.5 mm (US I-9) and 8 mm (US L-11).
• Sizes, yarn amounts and heights rest on published head charts and the book's gauge; your own gauge and tension decide the final size, which is why the book has you check it as you go.
• No pom-poms or long ties on the baby and toddler sizes, for safety.
• The pages are US Letter. On A4 paper, print with "fit to page". This is a PDF download; no physical book is shipped.