Anna-Maria Hat
Anna Maria and Granny Square hats
at the 12 Apostles.
My mother’s best friend Anna-Maria Witten-Hannah invented this wonderful hat, I believe (seen on left). My adopted ‘auntie’ and first spinning and dyeing teacher, Anna-Maria was a redoubtable Czech lady who had escaped from the then Czechoslovakia after World War II, eventually marrying a New Zealander and raising three stalwart sons.
The story goes that two men were walking towards one another in New York in the depths of winter – both stopped and exclaimed: “You must know Anna-Maria!” An international brotherhood of woolly hats!
An innovative spinner and weaver, Anna-Maria was a long-standing member of the Titirangi Spinners and made many of these hats for friends and family. In her latter years she was unable to spin, but still provided us all with cushions and hats crocheted from commercial yarn. You can see an example of the hat close up in my Navajo plying video.
This is a nice flexible hat which will accommodate any head size. Just use a thinner yarn and smaller hook for a smaller size and vary the length. The size is dependent on the stitches used – to increase the width of the hat, gradually change from double to triple then to quadruple trebles. To make a larger hat with finer wool, you might need to go up to quintuple trebles! When using thicker yarn, you might need to omit the second fur stitch row and just go straight on to the main body, finishing up with triple trebles rather than quad. The instructions given are for sport weight (handspun double knitting weight) yarn. I used Navajo plied yarn for my last one, although commercial yarns work just as well.
The shaping is the hard part here – once you get into the main body of the hat, it goes very quickly. The result is a sturdy hat which will last for decades, and will resist the strongest winds!
Instructions
Difficulty: medium.
Materials
Scraps of any Sport Weight (Double Knitting) yarns, as long as they are more or less the same weight. This pattern was invented for handspun, so leftover wool from projects is perfect. Match the wool to the size of crochet hook by winding the yarn round your index finger twice. Lay the hook lengthwise against the yarn. If the hook just covers the yarn, it’s the right thickness.
Crochet hook 4.5mm
Tension Doesn’t matter, as the hat is quite stretchy.
Abbreviations
Ch: chain, st: stitch, sl st: slip stitch tr: treble, d tr: double treble, tr tr: triple treble, q tr: quadruple treble.
NOTE: I use English crochet notation throughout!
Stitches
Fur stitch: insert hook into first stitch. Wind wool around index finger three times. Insert hook into these loops, and keeping your index finger to the front of the work, draw up a loop through all three loops and the stitch, draw through both loops on hook.
Double treble: wool round hook twice, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Triple treble: wool round hook three times, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Quadruple treble: wool round hook four times, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Hat
Topknot:
Start by looping your first yarn around your index finger twice, leaving a tail. Make 12 trebles into this ring and slipstitch together to make a disc. At this point you can draw up the tail of the wool so the circle closes up, or you can leave it till later.
Round 2: 2ch, 1 tr into joining slipstitch, *1 tr into next stitch, 2 tr into next stitch*, repeat between * to last stitch of round, 1 tr. 24 stitches. Slipstitch to join.
Round 3: 1 ch, fur stitch to end of round, joining in a second yarn with the joining slipstitch. Leave the first yarn joined for now.
Round 4: chain 2, 1 tr in joining sl st, *1 tr in next st, 2 tr in next st*, repeat between * until last st, 1 tr. Join into round with first yarn 36 st.
Round 5: Using yarn 1, fur stitch as for Round 3, drawing through yarn 2 in the final sl st. Break off yarn 1.
Round 6: Using yarn 2, chain 2, 1 tr in joining sl st, *1 tr in each of next 2 st, 2 tr in next st*, repeat between * until last 2 st, 1 tr in each st. Join into round with first yarn 48 st.
Difficulty: medium.
Materials
Scraps of any Sport Weight (Double Knitting) yarns, as long as they are more or less the same weight. This pattern was invented for handspun, so leftover wool from projects is perfect. Match the wool to the size of crochet hook by winding the yarn round your index finger twice. Lay the hook lengthwise against the yarn. If the hook just covers the yarn, it’s the right thickness.
Crochet hook 4.5mm
Tension Doesn’t matter, as the hat is quite stretchy.
Abbreviations
Ch: chain, st: stitch, sl st: slip stitch tr: treble, d tr: double treble, tr tr: triple treble, q tr: quadruple treble.
NOTE: I use English crochet notation throughout!
Stitches
Fur stitch: insert hook into first stitch. Wind wool around index finger three times. Insert hook into these loops, and keeping your index finger to the front of the work, draw up a loop through all three loops and the stitch, draw through both loops on hook.
Double treble: wool round hook twice, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Triple treble: wool round hook three times, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Quadruple treble: wool round hook four times, draw through a loop, draw through two loops successively until 1 loop left on hook.
Hat
Topknot:
Start by looping your first yarn around your index finger twice, leaving a tail. Make 12 trebles into this ring and slipstitch together to make a disc. At this point you can draw up the tail of the wool so the circle closes up, or you can leave it till later.
Round 2: 2ch, 1 tr into joining slipstitch, *1 tr into next stitch, 2 tr into next stitch*, repeat between * to last stitch of round, 1 tr. 24 stitches. Slipstitch to join.
Round 3: 1 ch, fur stitch to end of round, joining in a second yarn with the joining slipstitch. Leave the first yarn joined for now.
Round 4: chain 2, 1 tr in joining sl st, *1 tr in next st, 2 tr in next st*, repeat between * until last st, 1 tr. Join into round with first yarn 36 st.
Round 5: Using yarn 1, fur stitch as for Round 3, drawing through yarn 2 in the final sl st. Break off yarn 1.
Round 6: Using yarn 2, chain 2, 1 tr in joining sl st, *1 tr in each of next 2 st, 2 tr in next st*, repeat between * until last 2 st, 1 tr in each st. Join into round with first yarn 48 st.
Main pattern:
The finished hat
In the main pattern section, you can use as many yarns as you want to create stripes. You can change colour at any point but it helps to change at the round join to keep track of where you are. You can proceed in a spiral without round joining if you prefer; just put in a marker so you know where the start/finish point is.
Round 7: with yarn 2, *ch 2, 1 d tr, miss 1 stitch, dc into next*. Repeat to end of row. Join with sl.st. Note: the chain should always be shorter than the treble, allowing the treble to show more prominently on the outside of the work.
Round 8: Same as Round 7.
Round 9: changing yarns if you want, continue as round 7 & 8, but use a triple treble instead: *ch 3, tr tr, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
Round 10: as round 9.
Round 11: using a quadruple treble: *chain 4, q tr, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
By now your hat should measure around 9 1/2” (24cm) across the width when folded in half (19” or 49cm in circumference). If it’s a bit small, do another row of quad.tr, then make quin trebles on the following rounds as follows: *chain 5, wrap wool 5x around hook, draw through 2 loops 5x, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
Continue in the pattern as set, changing yarn when it suits your fancy, until the work measures around 10 ½” (26cm) from the very top to the bottom edge. Pull through the final sl st, break off leaving enough yarn to sew in. Sew in all ends. The hat is worn with the bottom edge rolled or folded up
Round 7: with yarn 2, *ch 2, 1 d tr, miss 1 stitch, dc into next*. Repeat to end of row. Join with sl.st. Note: the chain should always be shorter than the treble, allowing the treble to show more prominently on the outside of the work.
Round 8: Same as Round 7.
Round 9: changing yarns if you want, continue as round 7 & 8, but use a triple treble instead: *ch 3, tr tr, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
Round 10: as round 9.
Round 11: using a quadruple treble: *chain 4, q tr, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
By now your hat should measure around 9 1/2” (24cm) across the width when folded in half (19” or 49cm in circumference). If it’s a bit small, do another row of quad.tr, then make quin trebles on the following rounds as follows: *chain 5, wrap wool 5x around hook, draw through 2 loops 5x, dc on top of dc in previous row*. Repeat between * until end of round, sl st to join.
Continue in the pattern as set, changing yarn when it suits your fancy, until the work measures around 10 ½” (26cm) from the very top to the bottom edge. Pull through the final sl st, break off leaving enough yarn to sew in. Sew in all ends. The hat is worn with the bottom edge rolled or folded up