Simple crocheted Santa hat (with free pattern!)

Eeee! It’s December! I’m so excited for Christmas this year! With big brother being 3 1/2 now he’s getting excited and I’m really looking forward to making it magical for him 🙂 Little brother obviously still has no idea what’s going on but he’s enjoying looking at the Christmas tree and all our decorations.

Speaking of little brother, I really can’t believe he’s going to be 1 in only 11 days! My little baby is nearly a proper toddler, this has been a very quick year!

But anyway, back to Christmas:

I’ve made a couple of new things so far this year. First of all I made a felt advent calendar which I’m very pleased with, and which big brother is really enjoying every morning:

The next thing I whipped up was this very quick and easy crocheted Santa hat:

It was made entirely on a whim and with leftover yarn in my stash. But I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, and, even better, big brother loves it and proudly tells everyone that I made it for him 🙂

As you can see from the photo it is a little bit on the big side, so if you wish to make it smaller then start with ch 88 white then skip the row 2 of the red instructions so that the first ‘sk next tr’ comes after 21 stitches, not 22. Likewise if you wish to make it bigger then ch 96 and add an extra row with the ‘sk next tr’ decrease after 23 stitches.

I hope that makes sense! Actually, I hope this whole pattern makers sense, I’ve never written a crochet pattern before, or even followed one for that matter! So if anyone has any (constructive!) criticism about my instructions please let me know 🙂

Simple Crocheted Santa Hat

Materials:
Red and white dk weight yarn, approximately 40g of red and 20g of white.
3.5mm crochet hook
Wool needle
Pom pom made from the same white yarn as the band.

White band
Row 1: ch 92 then join chain into a circle with a sl st into 1st stitch.
Row 2: ch 2, 91 dc in every remaining ch, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 3-7: ch 2, 91 dc in front lp of each previous row dc, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2, fasten off.

Red hat
Row 1: change to red yarn, make a slip knot, sl st into back lp of last white dc, ch 1, tr 91 in back lp of each dc of last white row, join in beg ch-1.
Row 2: ch 2, (tr 21, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 21, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 3: ch 2, (tr 20, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 20, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 4: ch 2, (tr 19, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 19, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 5: ch 2, (tr 18, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 18, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 6: ch 2, (tr 17, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 17, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 7: ch 2, (tr 16, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 16, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 8: ch 2, (tr 15, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 15, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 9: ch 2, (tr 14, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 14, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 10: ch 2, (tr 13, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 13, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 11: ch 2, (tr 12, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 12, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 12: ch 2, (tr 11, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 11, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 13: ch 2, (tr 10, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 10, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 14: ch 2, (tr 9, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 9, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 15: ch 2, (tr 8, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 8, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 16: ch 2, (tr 7, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 7, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 15: ch 2, (tr 6, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 6, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 16: ch 2, (tr 5, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 5, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 17: ch 2, (tr 4, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 4, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 18: ch 2, (tr 3, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 3, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 19: ch 2, (tr 2, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 2, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 20: ch 2, (tr 1, sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, tr 1, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2.
Row 21: ch 2, (sk next tr, tr in next tr) 3 times, join in 2nd chain of beg ch-2, fasten off.

Finish by sewing in the ends and attaching a pom pom on the top. Then wear and spread Christmas cheer! 🙂

Make-along: Activity Advent Calendar part 2

Well it might have taken a few days to get to part 2, but I’ve been playing about with the layout and borders and such and I’m finally happy with my activity cards. Oh, and I had to learn how to include it as a file to download too! So here it is:

Activity advent calendar

This link will download 3 A4 pages in pdf format. I have included all the activities on the list in part 1 and kept a fairly straightforward layout so the individual cards will be easy to cut out. After much umming and ahhing I have also left the cards undecorated. This way they can be either left plain or decorated by hand, I’m going to do the latter.

I printed out the activities and marked the cut lines around the edges of the boxes. I used a 4mm border top and bottom and a 6mm border at the sides. I cut them out using scissors as it was too much hastle to get out my cutting mat and knife while young sir was desperately trying to get into everything today…

I used my fineliner pens to do the decorations, but any festive decorations would work. This isn’t the most detailed photo, but here are my finished activity cards. I’ve tried to theme the doodles to the activity, hopefully that’s obvious!

So I hope you will join me for part 3 where I’ll be making up the calendar ready for use! Not long to go until it’s needed!

Make-along: Activity Advent Calendar part 1

This year, instead of buying my wee man a chocolate advent calendar, I’ve decided to make an activity advent calendar full of lots of Christmassy activities to get us feeling festive. And I thought it would be fun to share the making process with you, in plenty of time, so that you can join in and make your own one with me!

Today I shall be sharing my list of activities that I’ve come up with, and later in the week I shall be sharing how I’m going to display the calendar. Now, first of all you will notice the obvious error that there are more than 24 items on the list. This is deliberate! My reason for it is that I wanted to make something that will still be relevant when young sir is a little/lot older, so I have included toddler-friendly activities right up to older kids/adult. And there is also the option to include religious elements (carol service) or not, if you are not religious. Or include everything and have days with multiple activities! And of course you don’t have to stick to my list, it can be a starting point for creating your very own activity advent calendar!

1. Watch a Christmas film
2. Make gingerbread men
3. Put up the Christmas tree and decorate it
4. Decorate the house/your room
5. Make mince pies
6. Ice the Christmas cake
7. Go to a Christmas market
8. Go to a Christmas party
9. Make Christmas cards
10. Go for a walk around the neighbourhood and deliver your cards
11. Visit someone you haven’t seen for ages
12. Read a Christmas story
13. Make a festive wreath
14. Give something to charity
15. Wrap up warm and go outside to play (make a snowman if there’s snow!)
16. Go for a trip to see the Christmas lights
17. Go to a Christmas carol service
18. Put on a Christmas CD and dance around the house
19. Make some Christmas decorations
20. Invite friends over for some festive fun
21. Learn about Christmas traditions in another country
22. A Christmas treat of your choice!
23. Go to the library and read some new Christmas stories
24. Random act of kindness: do something nice for someone else
25. Choose a tasty Christmas treat and learn how to make it
26. Christmas King or Queen: everybody draw lots and whoever wins wears a Christmas crown and gets to choose the activity
27. Write a letter to Santa
28. Stay up late and watch a new film with snacks
29. Go for a wintery walk
30. Go into town and take part in the festivities
31. Make table decorations
32. Hang up Christmas stockings
33. Put out a festive treat for the birds in your garden
34. Donate some food to an animal shelter:it’s Christmas time for them too!
35. Phone a friend or family member you won’t see over the holidays

So join me again later this week for the next step: making up the calendar!