THE EASY BUCKET HAT
Your step-by-step guide to making your masterpiece
Hey there, stitch superstar! You’ve just unlocked the secret sauce to making your own bucket hat, and we’re excited to be stitching it out with you.
This guide will be your BFF through the entire journey. Whether you’re brand new to crochet or just here for a refresh, we’ll take you from “how do I hold this hook?” to “look what I made!” — one row at a time.
Heads up! You'll need the physical pattern that came with your kit as well as this online guide. The pattern contains the specifics, this guide gives you the extra layer of detail.
INCLUDED IN YOUR KIT
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (Or CLOSE ENOUGH!)
Before we dive into the good stuff, let’s warm up those hands and your hook. Think of this like stretching before a workout, except comfier, cuter, and way more fun.
Grab some of the yarn from your kit (just a little, you’ve got enough to spare!), and get familiar with the motions. Try out the stitches you’ll be using in this pattern. This is your time to mess it up, try again, and feel things out — no pressure, no judgement, just you and your new fave hobby.
Bonus: Practising now = fewer headaches later (trust us on this one).
💡 For this practise session we recommend you crochet a flat square - it's the best way to learn the stitches and once you've got that mastered you can move into the pattern and learn the magic ring.
Slip Knot
Chain
Single Crochet
Repeat after me:
“I solemnly swear to crochet bravely, unpick calmly, and pretend I meant to do that.
I accept that chaos is part of the craft, and possibly part of my personality.
I will finish what I start… eventually.”
You’ll make your bucket hat in rounds, starting at the crown and working out to the brim. We’ll increase our stitches as we go to create the bucket shape.
First you'll make a magic ring. These can look a little scary to begin with but we promise, just follow the steps in the video and you'll master it!
A magic ring lets you start crocheting in the round with a centre you can pull completely tight.
Working into the ring, we’re going to do 6 single crochers (SC). Use your stitch marker to mark the first stitch once you've completed it. Then continue.
If you’ve been practising crocheting flat, you just need to think of the ring as your foundation chain - it’s the base that we work in to.
💡 If you're struggling to pull your hook through the loops, chances are your tension is too tight. Loosen up when you yarn over so that the hook has more space to get through.
Once you've done all 6 SC into the ring, you'll grab the tail from the magic ring and pull tightly to close the ring.
In this second round we're going to double the number of stitches, we do this by doing 2 SC stitches into each stitch from the previous round. This will give us 12 stitches total.
Mark the first SC you do with your stitch marker.
From round 3 to round 12 you'll continue using increases to grow the size of your circle (the crown of the hat)
💡 Make sure you count your stitches every round to make sure you're not missing or adding any increases. It's very easy to miss something here and you want to catch it as quickly as you can.
🌈 Changing Colour: We recommend you only change colour at the end of a round following the technique in the video below. At the end of the project, you can tie the ends of the old and new yarn together to secure them on the inside of the work.
Time to take a little break from the increases. We're working the sides of the hat now so we don't want our piece to grow any more for now.
You'll continue working in SC for 15 rounds. All you have to remember is to continue moving the stitch marker at the start of each round and ticking off the circles in your pattern to keep track of your progress. Happy stitching!
Continue following the instructions in your pattern to work the brim of your hat, then fasten off to finish.
Epic work stitch superstar. You've completed your new summer accessory!
BLOCKING (Optional)
The final step in finishing a piece is to block it. This step is optional and not all beginner crocheters will block their work but it can improve the overall shape and finish of your piece, and in this case, it can help the coasters sit flat.
Blocking is a process where you wet your piece to set the finished size and even out the stitches.
Soak your piece in cool water. You only need to let your piece sit in the water for a few minutes and make sure the full piece is completely wet.
Remove your piece from the water and dry it off by rolling it in a towel. You want to get us much of the moisture out of it as possible at this point but be gentle! You don't want to stretch the piece.
Transfer your damp piece to a flat surface to block it on. If you've got a blocking mat - great! otherwise a towel will work. The surface needs to be somewhere where your work can lie flat and can stay there until it fully dries so that the shape sets properly. Make sure it's not a surface that can be easily damaged by having something wet sitting on it!
Arrange your piece so the right side is facing up and the shape is as you'd like it. If you've got a measuring tape you can measure and adjust the piece so it's the correct size.
Allow the work to air dry - this can take a few days. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the process, just use a light heat and don't concentrate the air in one spot.
