Do you enjoy crocheting hats? Maybe you want some new hats to add to your own wardrobe. Maybe you crochet hats as gifts for your friends and family members – or perhaps you crochet hats for the homeless or other charity crochet projects. Whatever your reason for seeking out new crocheted hat patterns, there’s a lovely new book you absolutely need to know about. It’s called Crocheted Beanies and Slouchy Hats: 31 Patterns for Fun, Colorful Hats by Julie King.
What You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:
Author: Julie King
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Copyright Date: October 2018
ISBN 13: 978-0811717960
ISBN 10: 0811717968
Book Formats:
This book is available in the following format(s):
Number of Pages: 128
Skill Level: The patterns in this book are rated as beginner-level, easy and intermediate-level crochet patterns.
The Focus of This Book:
The author of the book, Julie, explains that her goal for this book was to provide a variety of crochet hat patterns that are quick to make, not too difficult, and fun to wear. This reviewer agrees that she has succeeded in ticking each of the check boxes she set out to. All together, you get 31 unique and stylish hat patterns.
Crochet Projects Included in This Book:
Just as the title of the book promises, all the patterns in this book are either beanies or slouchy hats. Take a look at some of the projects you can make using the crochet hat patterns included in this book:
Examples of the Slouchy Crochet Beret Patterns Included in This Book:
Dew Drops Slouchy Hat
Ginger Snap Slouchy Hat
Examples of the Slouchy Crochet Beanie Patterns Included in This Book:
Painted Desert Slouchy Crochet Beanie Pattern
Swell Slouchy Crochet Beanie Pattern
The One and Only Earflap Beanie Patterns Included in This Book:
Alaska Beanie Crochet Pattern
I counted…
- 5 beginner-level crochet hat patterns
- 21 easy crochet hat patterns
- 5 intermediate crochet hat patterns
- 9 crochet patterns for regular, traditional beanies
- 8 crochet patterns for slouchy beanies
- 13 crochet patterns for slouchy berets
- 1 earflap beanie hat pattern
- 21 hats crocheted using medium-weight yarn
- 6 hats crocheted using bulky yarn
- 4 hats crocheted using super bulky yarn
- 2 hats that include ribbon embellishments — soooo pretty!
Disclaimer: I can count. Really! But, you know how motherhood brings both sleep deprivation and frequent interruptions to all your activities? Thanks to the possibility of counting errors caused by said sleep deprivation and frequent interruptions, I request that you please take the above counts as my best estimates rather than set-in-stone fact. Thanks!
The Best Things About This Book
- You get 31!!! different hat patterns in this book. Even if you have the wardrobe of a duchess and you need to accessorize the whole thing ASAP, that’s a LOT of choices for different hats you could make.
- Need to brush up a bit on your crochet? No problem. Helpful photo tutorials are included for each of the featured crochet stitches and techniques that might be unfamiliar to you.
- You’ll get to learn and practice a huge variety of interesting and lovely crochet stitches when you make these hat designs.
- The hats are photographed on live human models, which means you can actually see how they’re supposed to fit on a human head. That’s especially helpful when you’re trying to determine how slouchy, exactly, each of the slouchy hats are. In contrast, some other pattern books show hats either tossed on a table or placed on a mannequin – which is far less helpful than what you get here.
- This book is an AMAZING value for the money you spend on it. Julie King makes some (but not all) of these hat patterns available for sale individually as PDF pattern downloads on Ravelry for the price of $4.00 each — and people are buying them and loving them at that price. In fact, her regular customers were absolutely ecstatic when she made this book available, and bunches of them lined up to pre-order it. Why? It becomes obvious pretty quickly when you start to do the math. Crunch a few numbers, and you’ll realize that buying this book is super cost effective in comparison to buying her pattern downloads individually.
Important Caveat: I have NO IDEA if Julie King will ever offer this entire range of patterns for sale individually on Ravelry — and if she does, I also have NO IDEA how she will price the patterns she hasn’t released yet. BUT if she were to offer them all for sale, and if she were to follow her previous precedent of pricing them all at $4.00 each, you’re looking at a total value of $124 for this book all together. In contrast, the actual cover price of the book is only $22.95 — and that’s before retailers like Amazon and Knitpicks discount it (which they usually do. Definitely check the price at Knitpicks before you buy this book, or any crochet, knitting, weaving, macrame or yarncrafting book, on Amazon, because Knitpicks carries bunches of great books — and they have frequent sales that smoke even Amazon’s prices). Either way, even if you pay the full cover price of $22.95 for this book, you can feel assured that it is a total bargain. - The suggested yarns for these projects are generally affordable and accessible. You know how, sometimes, when you buy a gorgeous new crochet pattern book, you find a pattern you’re really excited to work…and then you read the section on recommended materials, and your heart sinks as you realize you need to find a source for $699-per-ounce handspun unicorn fiber that’s been sprinkled with magic, gold-plated pixie dust? Well, I don’t think that will be an issue with this book — at least, not for crocheters in the USA. Many of the suggested yarns are available from “Big Box” retailers like Hobby Lobby. Some of them are available by mail from Knitpicks.
- But, in the unlikely event you DO have a hard time finding one of these yarns, the team at Stackpole Books has made it super easy for you to substitute yarns; they’ve given you all the details you need about each yarn to make yarn substitutions as painless as possible.
- The author thanks her pattern testers in the acknowledgements in the book. Between that and numerous finished projects that other crocheters have posted on Ravelry, it appears that all these patterns have been well tested. That gives you some fantastic assurance that you’re likely to come out with wearable finished hats if you make an honest effort to work these patterns using suitable materials.
Other Observations About This Book
Each pattern includes multiple photos, so you’re able to see each hat from multiple angles. However, it’s hit or miss as to whether the back of the hat is pictured. Sometimes it is, but there are also some cases where it isn’t.
International symbol crochet charts ARE NOT included in this book.
You CAN judge this book by its cover; it’s just as wonderful inside as it appears from the cover. Also, the title of the book is totally fair and accurate. The book is all about beanies and slouchy hats. No other types of hat styles are included. For example, there are NO messy bun hat patterns included in this book — so if messy bun styles are what you want, you’ll have to look elsewhere. No hoods. No cloches. No head wraps. No other types of accessories like mittens or scarves or cowls. You JUST get crochet patterns for beanies and slouchy hats. If you’re in the market for a new crocheted beanie or a new slouchy hat, this is definitely the book for you!
Conclusion
I’m thrilled to recommend this book to other crochet enthusiasts, particularly crafters who are interested in making a broad variety of stylish beanies and hats. I think this book offers you an outstanding value for the money – especially since it’s currently available at deep discounts on Knitpicks and Amazon.
Where to Buy This Book:
Similar Knitting and Crochet Books, Plus Other Related Resources
This book is included on our list of best crochet hat patterns. While this book is currently my top pick for the BEST OF THE BEST of the pattern books on that list, there are some other great books included that you might also want to take a look at.
Do you like to knit hats? If so, there’s another fantastic hat pattern book by the same publisher that you absolutely need to check out. It’s called Knockout Knit Hats and Hoods, and it has some absolutely spectacular hat designs included.
Learn More About Crochet:
- Click Here to Learn How to Crochet; This Link Takes You to a Total Beginner’s Guide to Crochet.
- Click here to find crochet stitch tutorials and instructions.
- Click here to learn more crochet techniques.
- Click HERE to Find Fabulous Yarn for Crochet and Knitting
- Click here to learn about crochet hooks.
- Click here to find my favorite crochet project bag.
Learn About Other Crafts: Knitting, Sewing, Quilting, Paper Crafts and More
- Click here to check out our suggestions for the best craft supplies.
- Click here to find info about knitting.
- Click here to check out our beginner’s guide to knitting needles.
- Click here to find more craft project ideas.
Posted By: Amy Solovay
Page last updated on 6-22-2023. Thanks for visiting!