Crochet Hats!: 15 Stylish Projects to Top It All Off

by Candi Jensen

Fast, fun, and relaxing, crocheting a hat is a rewarding way to practice basic skills, try out new stitches, or tackle particularly challenging patterns. Hats invite experimentation and creativity. The finished piece is so small that pulling out rows of stitches or going all the way back to the beginning of a project is never too heartbreaking, and making more than one is a natural urge!

Crochet Hats! features 15 original patterns for pretty, new looks — classic as well as cutting edge, sunny and light as well as cozy and warm. Created for every skill level, Candi Jensen’s hat designs also encourage stitchers to venture beyond their comfort zones and experiment with new yarns, different color combinations, and more complicated stitches. Hats provide the perfect opportunity for playing with new ideas.

From cables to brims to beads, Jensen’s hats feature something for every head. An adorable baby cap makes a lovely shower gift, a colorful cotton sun hat screens summer beach rays, and diamond shapes on angora and wool sparkle on the ski slopes. Many designs will work for men too, with a bit of color adjustment.

Crochet Hats! will be irresistible to fashionable crocheters who want to show off the terrific looks achievable with a ball of beautiful yarn and a hook.

Genres: Crochet, Crafts, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[LG · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave the book three stars because it helped me work through my understanding of making hats. For this, I'm grateful. In particular, it helped me think about giving a hat texture.

However, the book would have benefited from:
1) more visual instructions
2) how to size hats for different people
3) more variety of patterns - some hats seemed minor alterations of other hats.

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading this almost 20 years after publication and my biggest gripe is that the hats aren't very stylish (and I don't think they were that attractive back then, either...). The introductory material, particularly the "Language of Crochet," is excellent, though. I think photographing the hats on actual real people would have given more information in terms of how the hat sits on the head and how deep the crown in. The wooden hat blocks looked all very alien to me. I like Candi Jensen books and was disappointed that this one did not resonate with me.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book (in the shape of a hat) is one of my favorites when I want to be inspired and re-inspired to pick up my crochet needles and make hats. There are so many different ones of all different sizes, textures, shapes. This also has wonderful instructions on the stitches, although the directions are a little tougher, but I have trouble following all crochet instructions anyway. I have just checked it out of the library for about the 6th time.

[Holly Booms Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the best book of crochet hats that I have found yet. I've made four of the hats in the book and each has turned out perfectly! The instructions are easy to understand. I love this book, and will probably buy my own copy. Highly recommended, even for beginner crocheters.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent how-to instructions, but not great illustrations to accompany them. Additional photos or illustrations in the patterns would have been good, and I wouldn't call some of the hats terribly attractive. However, good suggestions for alternate stitches and skills to learn.

[Jodee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute hats. Simple to make, easy to follow directions, I just had to make each hat three times to adjust the size. These hats were sized for people with much rounder heads than our family.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these patterns are very outdated. The few projects that I would like to make were hard to follow.