The Crochet Hat Pattern That Started It All

A diagnosis of cancer is never a fun thing.  Facing the idea of putting poison in your body doesn’t appeal to anyone.  I came close to opting to trying natural methods to fight my Stage 4 Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, but ultimately, after much pondering, prayer and research, I decided to go the traditional route of chemo treatments.

Within 2 weeks of beginning treatments, my hair started to fall out.  The cancer center I went to had an area where they had free hats that patients could take. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t impressed with anything there. I decided, after years of not crocheting, it was time to pull out the crochet hook and see if I could make a hat for myself.

I didn’t have a lot of experience in crocheting at the time.  In fact, I had to go buy a new crochet hook to make the project!!   I had made a few simple things over the years, but I don’t recall ever having a pattern to follow for any of those items.  Just simple instructions from a friend.  And I’d never crocheted in the round before!!

I looked online for a hat I liked and decided to try and make it.  However, having never really read a crochet pattern before, I wasn’t smart enough to pay enough attention to the pattern material instructions to make sure I bought the right kind of yarn!  Consequently, the hat turned out way too large for my head and I had to start over with new yarn.  I had used a bulky weight yarn for a worsted weight project!   But I had learned to try and follow a pattern in the process.  You can read more about how picking a new yarn for this hat pattern lead me to a commitment to make hats for other cancer patients that I still continue to do, on my About Me page.

I’ve learned a lot about crocheting and Pinterest over the years.  First of all…. now I know there are hundreds of free patterns available online!  Finding them through Pinterest or Ravelry is a breeze!!  At the time I made my first hat, I didn’t realize I could get patterns for free, so I gladly purchased this cute Sarahndipities Cloche pattern by Sarah Anderson Designs available at Etsy.com.  Isn’t it adorable?

The hat works up easily and has become a favorite of mine to make.  I have tried over the years to always use new patterns when I make hats to donate.  It’s a great learning experience for me and I think it’s fun for patients to have so many cute hats to choose from!  This cloche pattern though, has come back into the cancer patient donation stash several times over the years because I love the pattern and I think it’s a great hat for chemo patients. As you can see from all of the pictures below,  I love making this one!  I love how low it comes down over the head and ears.  Something, as a cancer patient, I found to be important to me.

One of the things I love about this pattern is the removable flower that attaches to a button.  It’s such a fun combination! When the flower is off, the button still adds a cute accent.  You can also make additional flowers in many colors and switch them out easily with the button.  Look at these cute buttons I found!  They’re going on my wish list!  I love adding buttons to crochet projects.

A big thanks to Sarah for this awesome pattern!  I hope you enjoy it and now have A Pattern To Follow!  I hope you’ll continue to join me here on my blog as I share more awesome patterns I’ve discovered over the years and as I start to design some of my own!  Thanks for stopping by!

Some suggested yarns for this project:

Caron Simply Soft
Red Heart Soft
Red Heart With Love
Bernet Handicrafter Cotton
Lion Brand Cotton
Deborah Norville Everyday 

Any SOFT worsted weight yarn is great!  Please keep scrolling to see more of the hats from this pattern I made!

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