Simple Crochet Baby Bonnet Pattern

Alysia and I have been so encouraged by the great response to our Heirloom Crochet Bonnet Kit, available at Magnolia and Oak Fibers on Etsy.  We're so thankful to everyone cheering us on with this new project!  And a few of you have asked if you could buy just the pattern. Well, now you CAN! The pattern for this sweet crochet bonnet is now available in my shop!

The baby bonnet pattern is designed for beginners ready to take their crochet skills to the next level, and an equally fun and rewarding project for a crocheter with more advanced skills. 

You'll find the perfect mini-skeins of hand-dyed fine alpaca yarn at Magnolia and Oak Fibers in the prettiest pastels, they're the perfect amount of yarn to make one of these bonnets.

This bonnet works up pretty quickly, using a magic circle, single crochet, double crochet and a front/back post double crochet stitch that is fully explained in the pattern.  The pattern gives you a list of materials needed, step by step instructions to make a bonnet for sizes newborn to 24 months and photos to help show the process. 

Grab your Heirloom Bonnet Crochet Pattern Here!

Brush up on your crochet skills with my Crochet Lessons Series.

And practice your skills with this Free Crochet Dishcloth Pattern!

xo Emily

Behind the Scenes:: a Fall Crochet Project

I've got a new crochet project in the works!

It's a collaboration with my friend Alysia of Magnolia and Oak (@magnoliaandoak on Instagram), who hand dyes yarn in the most beautiful of colors.  She invited me to come up with a simple crochet baby bonnet pattern, one easy enough for beginners,  that she could include in a kit with her hand dyed baby alpaca yarn and a hook, everything you would need to make your very own baby bonnet!

There will be more details coming soon, like where you can get these kits, the colors it will come in, and what the bonnet looks like.  But for now, all you need to do is think of who you need to crochet a baby bonnet for!  Oh, and if you need to, start brushing up on your basic crochet skills with the Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons series.

To be the first to know when this crochet kit will be available, and about other upcoming projects and products, sign up for my mailing list!

Looking for a simple crochet project to practice your skills? Grab my Free Crochet Dishcloth Pattern for Beginners!

Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons :: Double Crochet

The weather has been beautiful and we couldn't resist taking our crochet outdoors to show Ginger how to do a double crochet.  We had a lot of fun sitting in the sun with our yarn, and in the end, Ginger mastered the stitch! 

This is the fourth lesson in our Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons series, you can refer back to the other posts to brush up on the skills needed to prepare you for this stitch.  Double Crochet is a fundamental crochet stitch and is also a building block to more complex stitches and patterns.  When you're using a pattern the abbreviation of double crochet is DC.  

This video explains how to do a double crochet stitch, a basic crochet stitch. We filmed this in a beautiful forest because we love to crochet outside whenever we can. Ruby and Ginger are big helpers in this video!

Double Crochet in 4 Easy Steps:

1) Double Crochet is really just a more involved single crochet.  Rather than starting out by putting your hook through the hole of the stitch below like in a single crochet, you are going to place the yarn over your hook before you insert it into the hole.

2) Once you've inserted the hook into the hole of the stitch below, you will yarn over and pull a loop through the hole.  This means you will now have 3 loops on your hook.

3)  Yarn over, and pull a loop through 2 of the loops already on your hook.  You will now have 2 loops remaining on your hook.

4) Yarn over, and pull a loop through the remaining 2 loops on your hook.  You are left with one loop on your hook and have just completed your first double crochet stitch!

Now that you know how to do a double crochet stitch, you will be able to make a granny square, a ripple stitch, a shell stitch, and lots of other beautiful projects!  Subscribe to my Blue Corduroy Youtube Channel to get the next lesson and you can also follow me on Instagram @emily_bluecordory for works in progress along the way!

Grab my FREE Crochet Dishcloth Pattern for Beginners!

Free Beginner's Crochet Dishcloth Pattern :: and Learning to Read a Pattern

If you've been following along with my Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons series, you now should know how to make a slip knot, do a chain stitch, and single crochet.  

Ready to make a cotton dishcloth and practice your new skills?

This Free Crochet Dishcloth Pattern is the perfect way for you to put your new skill into action creating a useful item.  There are three variations on the single crochet stitch to help you improve your skills and keep you interested.  One is the basic single crochet, the second helps you get in the rhythm of skipping stitches and doubling up on stitches, and the third is a combination pattern including chain stitches and single crochet stitches. 

Reading a Crochet Pattern

Learning how to read a crochet pattern can take a bit of practice.  The key is understanding the abbreviations used.  It can feel a bit like cryptic code solving.  Because we're starting off with a basic pattern, there are only 2 abbreviations you need to crack this code!

CH = chain stitch.  The pattern will tell you when to chain stitch and how many to do.  

SC= single crochet. The pattern tells you when and where to make each single crochet.

The other thing I find useful when following a pattern is to not get overwhelmed with trying to understand the whole pattern all at once.  If I just take it one direction, one stitch at a time, then I usually find it much easier to comprehend.

The pattern will also suggest what yarn to choose and which crochet hook to use.  So you don't have to wander around the yarn shop getting distracted by all the beautiful options!

Enjoy making your cotton crochet dishcloths, I'd love to see yours when you're done!

Enjoy making your cotton dishcloths, I'd love to see yours when you're done!

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Blue Corduroy Crochet Lessons :: Chain Stitch

Welcome to your second crochet lesson - the Chain Stitch!

Did you learn how to do a slip knot? If you missed it, or forgot how, or need a reminder on how to pick the right size yarn and hook, take a look at the first Blue Corduroy Crochet Lesson on Slip Knots and Yarn Lables.

Crochet is a very addictive and relaxing skill once you get the hang of it.  When my daughter Ginger first learned this chain stitch she was about six years old and she sat and crocheted a chain stitch that reached clear to the back yard! She wasn't worried about how fast she was working or what she was making, she was simply enjoying the yarn and the hook in her hands.

The chain stitch is a foundational stitch for most crochet projects and is also used in many crochet stitches.  What you're learning here is proper tension of the yarn, using your fingers as guides, and how to twist the hook to guide the yarn.

Have fun getting to know your yarn and hook, and I can't wait to show you the next step!

Don't forget, you can also subscribe to my Blue Corduroy Youtube channel to watch these lessons and/or follow me on Instagram @emily_bluecorduroy for other tips and adventures.

Grab my FREE Crochet Dishcloth Pattern for Beginners!

crochet basics {the magic circle}

I wanted to do a series of crochet tutorials.  There are so many fun stitches and patterns out there.  And whether you're learning them for the first time, or if you're like me, you forget from time to time, it's nice to have a source of compiled crochet basics.

The Magic Circle

The magic circle is my preferred way for beginning any crochet pattern that begins with a circle.  You can modify any circular pattern to begin this way.

1)  Wind your yarn around your finger 3 times.  Make sure to have the short end of the yarn at the tip of your finger, and the end attached to the ball of yarn at the base of your finger.

2) Slide your hook under all three strands and grab the third with your hook.

3) Pull that third strand under the other strands on your finger, and keep it on your hook.

 4)  Do a chain stitch with the loop still on your finger.

5)  Pull the whole loop off your finger.

6)  Now, if you are doing a pattern with double crochet you will want to chain 2 more (pictured below).  If you are working a pattern with a singel crochet you will stop with just one chain.

7)  If your work is double crochet, and you chained 3, then do 12 double crochet into the circle (pictured below).  If your work is single crochet, you will do 6 single crochets into the circle.

8)  Now slip stitch your final double (or single) crochet into the top chain that you started with.  You now have a complete circle, with a large center.

9)  Abra Kadabra.... Pull your short tail and watch your circle magically shrink!  Now you can complete your hat, flower, granny square, etc.