Hodge and Podge and Eric are all ready for Christmas now that they have Santa hats to wear. You may notice that in addition to jolly red hats, they’re also sporting Ugly Christmas Sweaters. That’s because before December 25 rolls around, we have December 12 to celebrate. That’s right. This Friday is National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day and these squirrels want to throw an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.

Would your squirrel friend like to join us? Stay tuned for my free ugly sweater pattern for your squirrel friend, which will be out later this week. If you don’t have a squirrel friend, you’ll want to check it out too. I’ll be showing you how to make these into cute and hilarious Ugly Christmas Sweater ornaments. We’ll also give some thought to the motivation behind this new trend: is it ironic or just nostalgic? I’m curious to know what you think.

But first, let’s make some Santa hats. These hats are really quick and easy to whip up. When I made them for the squirrels here at the picnic, I used the same brand of yarn that the squirrels were made from. If you do the same, you should end up with a hat that fits just right. It will be a bit bigger than the squirrel’s head in order to fit the ears. Maybe someday I will design hats that allow their ears to poke through, but on these hats, their ears are covered.

If you run into trouble and your hat is just way too big, try it again with a smaller size hook. If it’s way too small, go up a hook size or two. I made these in a bunch of different sizes and decided that the ones that don’t fit my clan of amigurumi will end up as Christmas ornaments. You might do the same if you’re like me and don’t have the heart to frog them.

Once you’ve made the hat, you get to make a pom-pom. My favorite part! GiddyUp Workshop has a wonderful and whimsical tutorial to show you how.

I’ve really enjoyed making these hats and I hope you will too.

Santa Hat Crochet Pattern

Materials

Crochet hook in size suitable for your yarn (See note below)
Yarn in red
Yarn in white
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Fork

Note

To give you an idea of gauge and size, I used Caron Simply Soft in Red, which is light worsted-weight yarn that is labeled as 4 or medium. Using a G-6 (4.00 mm) crochet hook produced a hat that is 3.75” tall and about 6” in diameter at the bottom. These hats worked best for my squirrels. But in case your squirrel’s head is larger, using an H-7 (4.00 mm) crochet hook produced a hat that is 4.5” tall and about 6.75” in diameter at the bottom.

Instructions

With red, ch 2 or begin with a magic loop.

Rnd 1: 6 sc into 2nd ch from hook or into the magic loop and pull magic loop tight to close. (6)

Rnd 2: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 3: * Sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (9)

Rnd 4: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 5: * 2 sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (12)

Rnd 6: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 7: * 3 sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (15)

Rnd 8: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 9: * 4 sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (18)

Rnd 10: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 11: * 5 sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (21)

Rnd 12: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 13: * 6 sc, inc, rep from * 2 more times. (24)

Rnds 14-16: Sc in ea sc around.

Rnd 17: Join with slst. Ch 1 with white. Sc in next sc and in ea sc around.

Rnd 18: * Slst in next st, 3 sc in next st, rep from * around. Join with slst. FO and weave in ends.

Make a pom-pom for your Santa hat, ensuring that the yarn you tie around the center is at least 6” long.

With a tapestry needle, thread one of the long tails through the hole at the top of the hat and through a stitch on the inside. Repeat with the other tail, then tie them together with a double knot.

If you want your hat to fold down, use one of the tails to tack the top of the hat down about 1/2″ from the bottom.

See a mistake or something I overlooked, please let me know in the comments or at squirrelpicnic{at}gmail{dot}com. Thanks!