Simple Shells Slouchy Beanie

THIS PATTERN IS FOR A SLOUCHY BEANIE USING CROCHET SHELLS AND RIBBING.  It fits my 4 and 6 year old sons and it also fits me, so aside from babies and toddlers, it will fit most children and adults.

I USED WORSTED WEIGHT YARN (Caron Cake yarn for the first hat, pictured, and 2 others in various wool-blends) AND A SIZE "i" Clover Amour Hook.

I DON'T CURRENTLY HAVE ANY GAUGE INFORMATION, HOWEVER the hat is worked from the brim up, so you can try it on starting as soon as you've finished the first row!  IF IT'S TOO LARGE, GO DOWN A HOOK SIZE, AND IF IT'S TOO SMALL, GO UP A HOOK SIZE.  The entire pattern up until the final 2 rows will work perfectly as long as you start with any multiple of 4.  So you can also add or remove stitches to get the size you want, but you should be comfortable "winging" the final 2 rows at the top if you do this, because the stitch counts won't match up right once you get to that point. 

THIS PATTERN REQUIRES THE USE OF FOUNDATION SINGLE CROCHET. THIS IS USED AROUND THE brim, BECAUSE A CHAIN IS NOT VERY ELASTIC and isn't ideal for the brim of a hat. I KNOW SOME PEOPLE AREN'T FAMILIAR WITH THIS TECHNIQUE OR HAVEN'T PERFECTED IT YET, BUT I HIGHLY SUGGEST GIVING IT A SHOT! THERE ARE AWESOME YOUTUBE TUTORIALS OUT THERE!

Row 1:  Foundation single crochet x48.  We will be working in the round, so join to first foundation sc with a slip stitch.  Make sure not to twist the row before joining!

Row 2:  Ch 1, hdc in same stitch and in each stitch around (48 hdc)

Rows 3-8:  Ch 1, fphdc around same stitch, bphdc around the next stitch.  Continue alternating (fphdc, bphdc) around, ending in a bphdc.  Join to first fphdc with a slip stitch. (48 st)

Row 9: ch1, sc in same stitch (sk 1 st, 5 dc in next stitch (forms shell), sk 1 stitch, sc in next stitch) x12, excluding the last sc of the last repeat. slip stitch into the first sc of the round

Row 10-24: Slip stitch up to the 3rd (middle) stitch of the first shell.  Ch1, and sc in same stitch. Skip the next 2 stitches of the shell.  (5dc into next sc *between shells*, sc in 3rd stitch of next shell)x 12, excluding the sc in the last repeat. slip stitch into the first sc of the round.

Row 25:  ch 1, sc2tog working into same stitch *first sc of row* and the 3rd stitch of the next shell. (sc2tog working into next sc *between shells* and the third stitch of the following shell) x 11.  Sl st into first sc2tog of row.

Row 26: ch1, sc3tog working into the same stitch  and the follwing 2 stitches.  (sc3tog, in the same fashion) x 3.  Sl st into first sc3tog of the row, bind off, weave in ends.