Period of Purple Crying

I recently came across a wonderful project for crazy crocheters like myself.  I love to make and donate baby hats for many reasons.  I have no children or grandchildren that are babies but still have the desire to make all the pretties for little ones.  My babies Odean and Ernestine decided they would model some for me today.

The Period of Purple crying project is bringing the shaken baby syndrome to our attention in a wonderful way.  Here is the link  http://www.clickforbabies.org/ to read all about it.

Myself and a few others are gathering our caps together to send.   In honor of this project I wrote a sweet little pattern that is quick to make.  It is also warm as they requested.  Before sending I will be making a crochet heart to stitch to each hat.  I love the Love Heart patterns at PlanetJune so here is the link to her easy hearts  http://www.planetjune.com/blog/free-crochet-patterns/love-hearts/.  And all the hearts for the hats will be a color of purple as the hats must be at least 50% purple.

I had a ton of purple yarn that was not as soft as I wanted for this project and a purple yarn that was not as thick as I wanted so I joined them for the perfect marriage for this little hat.

Please read entire pattern before beginning. 

     Purple Ziggidy Hat.
2 strands of yarn throughout. I used Red Heart Shimmer, it seems to be lighter weight than regular worsted or baby yarn or sport weight.  The other can be any worsted yarn, I used Red Heart Super Saver Purple.
J hook
Tapestry Needle
* to * ---repeat
Special Stitches
Front Post Double Crochet
Back Post Double Crochet
BLO = work in back loop of previous stitch only

http://craftdisasters.blogspot.com/2011/11/stitch-tutorial-fpdc-bpdc.html


Holding both strands of yarn together make a Magic Circle (or ch 4 and sl st to form ring)

Rnd 1:  Ch 2 (never counts as a stitch in this pattern), make 12 dcs in ring, gently pull tail to close, sl st into first dc (not the ch 2).   12 dcs

Rnd 2:   Ch2, 1 dc in join, 2 dcs in each dc around, 1 dc in st directly behind the ch 2.  Join with a sl st in first dc.   24 dcs

Rnd 3:   Ch 2, 1 dc in join, 1 dc in next st,  *2 dc in next st, 1 dc in next st*, repeat around, 1 dc in st directly behind the ch 2, sl st in first dc to join.   36 dcs

Rnds 4/8:   Ch 2, 1 dc in join, 1 dc in each st around, sl st to first dc to join.  36 sts.

Turn your hat so that the inside is facing you and you are going to work the other direction,

Rows 8/10:  Ch 2, work *1 fpdc around first dc in the blo, 1 bpdc in next st*, join in first fpdc with a sls st.

Drop the heavier worsted yarn and cut leaving a 3 to 4 inch tail.

Row 11:   Working over the tail make 1 sc in join, *ch 1, sc in next st* repeat around and sl st to first sc.

Finished! 

Tips and notes of explanation:

I use the ch 2 at the beginning of my hat rounds to help cover that pesky gap between the beginning and end. I also use that last st behind that ch 2 for the same reason.  It seems to me the gap between the two is more obvious in the increase rows of a hat because there is no real stretch there. Any questions or comments are welcome!


I will post all the hats with their hearts attached when they are ready to ship.