A box of hats

After I finished Chris' big blanket in December I wanted some to do some fast projects. I had made a couple of hats that I intended as chemo hats and decided to dig into the "hat yarn" box and make a few more. Today I'll be mailing off 13 of them! I finished one more Tuesday night after I had already taken this photo.
​I'm adding notes to these photos mostly for myself so I can find the patterns again.

This hat is made with Flecks yarn from Michaels. The pattern was from a website called crochethooksyou.com but that site no longer seems active. It's a simple top down beanie and once the increase rows are don the rest is done with back post double crochet. It makes a a very flattering hat to ear.
For this version I used a H hook, 8 rounds of increases, 14 rows of BPDC and 1 row of BPSC. Next time I'd use and I hook with this yarn and would probably only need 7 rounds of increases.

The yarn used in these had and the next hats is Wildstreak from Hobby Lobby. I got 3 skeins of each on clearance last summer and I used all of it. One hat in this image is the Divine Hat pattern. I love making this hat. Once you get the first round done it's super easy to keep track of your stitches. I used a J hook (H for the brim) and only 14 DC for the starting round. The pattern calls for 15 but that made the hat too big in this yarn.
The second hat is the same patter as the blue one above except that I used a J hook. I made 2 of these and gave one to Mom. It's a really flattering look.

This is also Wildstreak yarn. Lion Brand and Red heart also have very similar yarns to this one. I think it's called Unforgettable in one of the brands. I made these using a BagODay Beginner Beanie pattern. This yarn was so pretty and busy that I didn't want to waste effort on any sort of pattern. Simple stitches let the yarn shine. I used a J hook and did 6 rounds of increases. For one of the beanies I did 7 rounds of increases for a larger hat. I think 6 is optimal for this yarn.

These three Divine hats all use different yarn. The one in front is a pretty expensive Cloudborn cotton yarn. I bought it to try for another project and didn't like it. It's supersoft so I used it for a chemo hat. The middle one is Red Heart Roll With It. It was left over from a shawl and is soft enough for a hat. The last one is Loops and Threads Impeccable. It's pretty soft but I don't know if they will agree. I wouldn't pick this yarn again for chemo hats but it would be great for any other hat or scarf. I am using some Lion Brand Mandala Tweed now in a shawl and I think the leftovers of it would make nice chemo hats too.

So far my favorite yarn for chemo hats is Lion Brand Fells Like Butta. This stuff is so soft and it's really easy to work with. It's chain spun polyester so there's no splitting at all. One hat is  Divine hat and the other two are made using the Amazing Grace Hat Pattern. This hat is very easy and very fast to crochet. There's a pattern area in the middle that's food for color changes. I used a J hook for the body and an H hook for the brim. I did 4 rows of SC for the brim and didn't do any decreases. I let the hook size create the decrease. This hat actually looks really nice on.
I bought a few more skeins of the Feels Like Butta when it was on sale and I'm glad I did. I think it's going to be my go-to for chemo hats if they like these. I asked the coordinator at the office to give me some feedback so I'd know which kinds/sizes/colors/whatever that their patients like best.

If you have dealt with chemo and want to offer some advice for my hat-making I'd love to hear it.