Got a Hat That is Too Short or Just Want to Add Earflaps to the Hat?

 

Attaching Earflaps to a Hat —

 

Yesterday it was 65 degrees outside and Ally left Brady’s stroller on the back porch just in case we wanted to spend some time in the yard or garden.  Even though it was warm there was still a good, strong breeze coming off the fields so a hat was required.  To my amazement the little double crochet hat I hooked up for him a month…bet it was more like two months ago was too short.

 

That gave me an idea.

Last winter, because I was a new hat knitter and crocheter, I noticed so many men that wore stocking caps had their ears exposed.  We aren’t far from Chicago and it is so windy here.  Looking at Brady yesterday with his ears poking out from that hat reminded me of the hats I had checked out while in town the past few months.

 

The light blue Red Heart yarn was still out from the Easter Bunny hat I just finished so I grabbed my 6.5 mm (US size K) crochet hook.  Literally minutes later we had ear flaps on his hat.

I snapped a photo a bit prematurely as the hats look so much cleaner with so row of single crochet, slip stitch or blanket stitch around the edge. (keep reading though, you have to keep going to see how much different it looks with the trim on it )

At this point we needed to make a trip downstairs to get some necessaries out of his diaper bag. He still had the hat on and as I kept looking at the little hat the earflaps looked a bit long to me but of course that gave me another idea.  I took a short piece of yarn and tied the ends of the flap.  Sure enough the ends came together.

This could be done with ties, I suppose with velcro, but a button….babies and buttons are a combination that terrifies me.  So, we left the hat on while I prepared his lunch.

When I turned around he was doing quite a job of removing the hat and I would imagine if the flaps had a button it would have been in his mouth. The decision was made we will stick to short braided ties.

About five minutes to attach a nice border in a chocolate brown while he munched on a Mum Mum biscuit and then we tried it on again for size.  What a difference that simple contrast color along the edge makes!  For the border I decided to use a single crochet instead of slip stitch

CONTRASTING BORDER

All I did (all you have to do is) slip stitch on your contrast color yarn and single crochet all around the hat. I usually start just behind the right ear and work my way across the back, other side, front and then back to where I started. Just crochet loose. If you tend to crochet very tightly then consider going up a hook size for the contrasting border.

About that time he was ready for a nap and I grabbed the notes I had made for the earflap construction.

EARFLAPS/EAR COVERS
Here is all I did–

Attach new yarn with a slip stitch and chain 3, double crochet 7, ch3 and turn

Ch 8 (first ch3 in previous row counts as a dc), do not ch, turn

Following rows:  dc all, do not ch, and turn

By not chaining at the end of the rows you are decreasing each row by 1 stitch.  This is what gives the rounded appearance to the ear covers.

I repeated rows until I had only 3 stitches left and then fastened and wove in ends.

Measure across the back of the hat and allow 3.75″ before attaching the second earflap and repeat the process listed above.

Take a contrasting color and slip stitch it on behind the left ear flap.  Single crochet around the hat and flaps.  Fasten off and weave in ends.

Wah Laa!