Ladies Beach Hat

My Aunt has just been to the Mediterranean with two friends for a fabulous holiday. While there, they came upon some lovely crocheted sun hats in a multitude of colors and ended up buying several.

As soon as I saw the pictures, I thought, ‘I can make those’. And so my next project began.

I had some Elle premium cotton in my stash, so I googled around for patterns and got started. The basic pattern I used was this one from Make and Do Crew, although I did make a couple of adjustments.

My cotton is a DK and I used a 5.5mm hook. As this pattern suggests, I used galvanized wire rope to stiffen the brim. It works perfectly.

I am delighted with the outcome. The hat is super comfortable. It squashes down completely flat, so is easy to pack. It’s 100% cotton, so keeps you really nice and cool in the hot sun. The rim is firm, but flexible. What’s not to like?

I only have one very big problem – Elle have discontinued supplying this cotton (see very sad face here). So, I am unable to make another one just like this. So far, I have not been able to find another supplier of DK mercerized cotton.

As a result, I am playing around with a natural cotton. It is also a double knit, but is definitely thicker. The hat will turn out quite differently, but I’m interested to see the final product. Watch this space to see it for yourself.