Crochet Hat with Ear Flaps

I can not handle cold weather.  Whenever I step outside in the vicious winter air, my face wants to fall off.  What makes matters worse is that the past two winters have been... tropical!  I distinctly remember 40 degree (F) days weeks last January.  Back then I would go for walks with only a sweatshirt on!  Actually because last year was so warm, I started running because I had the environment to encourage such activities.  

Warm weather = healthy, active AP

Cold weather = uninspired, lazy, stay-inside-under-blankets AP

Welp, I still have to brave the cold frontier do to school and such, so I thought I'd make a hat for some extra layering.  Here's the result:

Not too shabby!   The hat looks great.  Plus, because the yarn I chose was thick, the hat adds a good amount of warmth for my ears and head.

I used the above video the make my hat.  Crochet Geek (Teresa) is an amazing resource for making crochet projects.  She has many projects to work on, she walks you through all stages, and her videos are very clean.  I have used Crochet Geeks videos before for other hat projects.

The best thing I like about crocheting is that it is very flexible.  Meaning, I can change elements or try new shapes without having to worry about messing up.  Because of this, I did not make an exact replica of the hat Crochet Geek made in the above video.  I was able to alter the pattern to make the hat my own.  In the following pictures, I'll explain what I mean.

The most important part of crochet hats is the top.  It is the base off of what you work with.  The above picture shows my completed base.

Crochet Geek has an amazing recipe for this base.  I did not deviate from Crochet Geek's instructions on how to make this base.  The only change I made was how many rows I added to circle.  I did this because the yarn I used was significantly bigger than the yarn Crochet Geek used in her video.  If I added the number of rows to my base as Crochet Geek did to hers, the base circle would have been way to large resulting in an over-sized hat that wouldn't fit.  To get the correct size I had to guess.  On this step, trial and error was my best friend.

Also, note the yellow string attached to the base (bottom right corner).  This string was a marker.  This marker helped me figure out what row I was on and if made any mistake.  It was a great tool to use.

 

Both crocheting and knitting deal with hand/wrist position.  When you get into the "groove" of crocheting and knitting, you will notice that your hands are set in one place making small repetitive movements that increase the speed of your work.  The above picture shows my optimal position for fast work.  This position allowed me to get the perfect amount of yarn for the next stitch.

The above pictures shows a fit test.  The ear flaps I wanted to make were a bit different than the video.  I wanted more coverage around my head instead of just the ears. So at this stage, I was checking where I wanted to deviate.

 I added more length to the back.  This is my own addition to this had project.  Again, I used markers to find out where to start on the sides.  The above picture shows another fit test to see how long I wanted to make the back section before adding the actual flaps.

Here are the actual flaps.  My flaps are less wide than Crocket Geeks' flaps.  She made the base of her flaps 16 stitches, and I made mine 8.  I only did this because I did not need the big flaps due to the back segment. However, I used Crochet Geeks's method of reducing to get the triangular shape.

 

I also used Crochet Geek's instructions on how to make the straps.

 And wa-la, a hat to keep me a lit bit more warm!

I am ready to face Mr. Freeze!