Unicorn Hat
Now every little unicorn lover needs a unicorn hat. And this one is a bit of a humdinger!! It’s ever so easy to make up and won’t take too long either!! It’s based on Uni the Unicorn that I made for my daughter for PipsRainbow’s 1st Birthday. Uni’s pattern is in the pattern tab if you would like to make her too either to the side of here or below depending on what appliance you are on.
So this is the final hat this week I promise!! Blimey it’s been hat mad this week hasn’t it. Sorry about that! Next week I am hoping to publish my rather cute Christmas yarny loveliness pattern and I promise, it’s nothing to do with hats!!
So for this pattern, I started it on the way down to Devon in the car and with a few evening sessions later, it was finished!! (Nothing like a Birthday deadline to get the hook crocheting at a rate of knots!!) It was for my daughter’s birthday and oh how excited was she when she popped it on.
Now as this was a very quick, nighttime crocheting production line, the photos are very much on the go I am afraid!! But they are all self explanatory and hope it all makes sense to you.
Now the hat pattern is my Weekend Hat, which I published on my blog this week. So you can find that in the pattern section to the right of this or below if you are on a smart phone/tablet. So basically this is the accesorising part of the hat.
Level – Easy
Supplies –
You will need a 4mm crochet hook, scissors and a blunt ended tapestry needle.
Unicorn – lots of different colours of double knit yarn. I used all my odds and ends from my sublime stash that I have. My colours are the same as Uni the Unicorn, but you can use any double knit wool you have lying around. If you don’t have any, you just need to buy a few balls of different coloured wool. I think I had about 5 different colours for the unicorn hat. Don’t forget you will need about 1 metre of black yarn for the eyes.
Flowers – all you need is about 15g of two or three different colours of double knit yarn wool or cotton.
Stitches –
Magic Ring – Fold over the yarn to make the loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull so that the knot tightens, but you still have a loop. This has created a magic ring.
Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.
Chain (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.
Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.
Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.
Foundation Chain – A foundation chain is required when you are starting your crocheting project with rows. Now that you have created your slip knot, you can make the chain. Wrap your yarn over your hook and pull back through the loop. This will create the first chain. Now pull the yarn over the hook and pull through again to make the second chain. Repeat this process till you have the amount of chains that you require. Now you are ready to start your crocheted rows.
Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)
Ok so here we…
Unicorn Ears –
Right so first off, we need to make two ears in the same wool as the hat.
1 – Magic ring, chain 1, dc6 into the ring.
2 – Now work 1dc into each stitch. (6)
3 – Then *work 1dc in the next 2 stitches and then 2dc in the next stitch.* Work this ** twice. (8)
4 – Now *work 1dc, then 2dc in next stitch*. Repeat this ** 4 times. (12)
5 – Then *work 1dc, then 2dc in the next stitch.* Repeat this ** 6 times. (18)
6 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (18)
7 – Now *work 2dc then 2dc in each stitch.* Repeat this ** 6 times. (24)
8 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (24)
9 – Ok so in this round *work 1dc then 2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. If you are unsure of how to work 2dctog. See the stitches information above. (18)
10 – 12 (3 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (18)
13 – Now *work 1dc then 2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. (12)
14 – 16 (3 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (12)
Once you have made the ear, fasten off your yarn leaving a long, arms length tail. Now thread this into your needle and pinch the base of your ears together, sewing a few stitches to secure it. Can you see in the picture below how the base of the ear is being pinched together.
Fasten off your yarn with a long tail and put to one side till you are ready to sew it onto your hat. So to make sure that you sew them on in the right place, I use little tags with some small bits of wool. It just gives me an idea where the horn and ears go when the hat is sitting on someone’s head.
So using your needle and the long tail you left when you finished your ears – sew them on to your hat. It can be a little fiddly at first, but just keep sewing around the base of the ear on to the hat.
Unicorn Horn –
Ok for the horn, I have used a strand of each of these as I wanted to give it real sparkle and texture. But obviously, you can just use some double knit wool or even an Aran weight wool.
1 – Make a slip knot and chain 12. Now slip stitch into a ring. (If you are unsure of how to make a slip stitch, look in the tutorials section for how to make one.)
2 – 3 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (12)
4 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work 3 times. (9)
5 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (9)
6 – Work *1dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (6)
7 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (6)
8 – Work *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. (4)
Now slip stitch and sew up the top so that it has a point and fasten off. Leave a long tail, so that you can sew on the horn to your hat.
So now that you have your horn, it’s time to see this on the hat inbetween the ears. Once again work your way around the base on the horn, stitching it on to the hat using the your needle and the long tail that you left when you finished the horn. Try to keep the stitches hidden as much as you can as this will give you a neater finish.
Unicorn Mane –
Right now it’s time for the fun bit. The mane. So you can use whatever colours you like.
Ok so attach your yarn and chain 1.
Now work 19 more stitches, so you have 20 in total.
Now work 2dc in the second chain from the hook.
*Now miss a stitch and work 1dc in the next chain.* Repeat this back towards the hat, down the side of the chain. This will give you a nice gentle spiral effect. If you wanted a really tight strand, work 2dc in each chain. This gives a spiral effect like on the my Octopus’s tentacles. Once you have worked all of your dc stitches into your chain and you are back at the hat, slip stitch into the stitch next to the base of your first chain. This will anchor your strand of mane to the hat. Then just fasten off.
Now repeat the mane process as many times as you like. I used 6 different colours on my daughter’s and maybe worked 4 chains of each one. Just remember the more you add the heavier the hat will get. Whooops – now we have all those lovely ends to thread in using your tapestry needle. As you need to hide these ends, you need to work them through the mane strands themselves.
And there you have your beautiful mane!
Ok, so now we have the ears, horn and mane finished.
Unicorn Eyes –
All we need now is the eyes. So you now need your black yarn and tapestry needle. Firstly knot the end of your black yarn and secure it on the inside of your hat. Now come up on to the right side of your hat. Make a semicircle and then insert your needle into the back of the hat. Can you see that I have made the semicircle over about 3 rows.
Now you need to come back up in the middle of the semicircle and anchor the eye down by going threading the needle over the yarn and then back in the same stitch.
Now it’s time to work the eyelashes. So again come back up on one side of the eye and then go over the top of the eye but this time insert it back in the hat about 7mm lower. This will create an eye lash.
Keep repeating the eyelash process, anchoring the stitch onto the hat as and where you feel you need to.
This may take you a few times to get right, as it’s quiet fiddly. But once you’re happy with the shape, you can secure the yarn on the inside of the hat with a knit and then fasten off and sew in the end.
All you need to do now is complete the other eye in the same way.
And there we have your little unicorn. Now you may have noticed that mine has a bow. All I did was get a double arms length of each coloured yarn in the mane. Then knot one end and plait the rest finishing with another knot. You can now make it into a bow and simply sew it on the hat using some of your hat coloured yarn.
Now another idea is that you can add some flowers to your hat. Here’s a simple pattern that you could make up in all sorts of colours.
Flowers –
So this is a really simple flower pattern.
1 – Start off by making a magic ring and chaining 1. Then work 12dx into the ring.
Now slip stitch into the first dc and pull the little tail to tighten the ring and create your little circle. Now fasten off, leaving your tail long enough to sew in later.
2 – Ok so now attach your new yarn into any dc stitch.
Start by chaining 1.
*Now work 5tr stitches in the same stitch.
Ok so then slip stitch in the next stitch.*
Now repeat this ** process 5 more times. End with the last slip stitch being worked into the first chain stitch.
And there you have your first little flower. You can make all sorts of different colour ways.
Well here’s to the end of Hat Week. I really hope you have enjoyed them all and hope you can find one that you would like to create.
Happy hooking everyone!!
🌈Xx
(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)