Two easy cap patterns to crochet

Recently, I wanted to share some simple crocheted cap patterns with a friend who didn't have access to all her patterns right away.  She wanted an easy cap pattern to help use up her stash of worsted weight yarn.  Surely, they would be easy to find on the internet as free patterns!  Well, not so much.  So I went into my own notes and found my patterns (here).  But, oops, they were too wordy for someone who just wanted the pattern.  So I stripped down the wordiness, and here they are, plain and simple:

TWO CAPS - YOUR CHOICE

Sizes:  Little Kid (Big Kid, Grownup)

Use either DK/#3 or Worsted/#4 weight yarn

Side to Side Cap:  Stitch a strip of that fits snugly around the head.  Sew a seam. Gather the top.  Fold up the bottom edge. (shown left and bottom, adult size)

Top-Down Coil Cap:  Start at the top.  Go round and round.  Make increases so it fits.  Then stop increasing, but keep stitching.  The cap is finished when the cap is big enough, or you run out of yarn. (shown upper right, adult size)

For either cap, here’s what you need:

Yarn: 
   50 gr of a DK/lightweight yarn (#3)  OR
   100 gr of a worsted/medium weight yarn (#4)

A Hook – to match your yarn

A Yarn needle for finishing

A Tape Measure – measuring is good!

For Top-Down Coil Cap: a split ring marker

Gauge (roughly)

DK weight yarn:  4 sts/inch

Worsted weight yarn:  3 sts/inch

Abbreviations

Ch – chain                            

Hdc – half double crochet   

Sc – single crochet

St/sts – stitch/stitches

Side-to-Side Cap

Loosely chain 6 (8, 10) inches. 

     For worsted weight yarn: 19 (25, 31) stitches.

     For DK weight yarn:  25 (33, 41) stitches.

Note:  For sc, insert hook into the Back Loop Only.  For hdc, insert hook under both top loops.

Row 1:  Sc1 in 2^nd chain from hook.  Sc1 in each of the next 4 ch, for a total of 5 sc.  Hdc across the rest of the row.  (If you're comfortable with foundation stitches, that can work here just fine, too.)

Row 2:  Ch2, turn.  Hdc in each hdc of the previous row until there are 5 stitches left.  Inserting hook into the Back Loop Only, sc across those 5 sc.

Row 3:  Ch1, turn.  Inserting hook into the Back Loop Only of each sc stitch, sc 5.  Hdc across the rest of the row.

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until the piece measures 16 (18, 20) inches on the long edge, ending with on the hdc side – not the sc side – of the row.

Next row – the seam:  Fold the piece so the starting row and the last row worked are next to each other to join the last row to the starting row, to make a seam.  Ch1, turn.  Inserting your hook through both layers, slip stitch in each stitch across to join the two edges together.  The piece is now a tube.  You should end up at the sc side, which is the top of the cap. 

Leaving a tail of about 12 inches, cut the yarn, and pull through the loop on the hook to secure and finish off your stitching.  Thread the tail into a yarn needle to use to gather the top.  Using the yarn doubled, with the end of the tail about 3 inches longer than the end connected to the piece, weave the needle through every 2 rows all the way around the sc side of the tube, going around two times for a secure gather.  Leave about 3 inches of the tail of the yarn hanging out at the start of the gathering.  Holding the tail, carefully pull the double strand snugly to gather the top.  Tie a snug knot using the double strand on the needle with the single tail at the beginning of the gather.   Cut the yarn off the yarn needle, and tuck in the loose ends to finish the cap.

Top-Down Coil Cap (have a safety pin or split marker handy for this one)

Starting at the center of the crown of the cap, ch3, slip stitch to make a ring.  (Or if you prefer, start with a Magic Ring.)

Round 1:  Ch1.  Hdc 7 into the ring. (7 stitches)  Attach a pin to the last hdc to mark the end of the round.  Move the pin from one round to the next. 

Round 2:  Continuing in a coil, hdc 2 into each hdc of Round 1.  Move the pin to the last hdc of the round. (14 stitches)

Round 3:  (hdc1, hdc2 in next st) 7 times – one time around. Move the pin to the last hdc of the round. (21 stitches)

Round 4:  (hdc2, hdc2 in next st) 7 times – one time around. Move the pin to the last hdc of the round. (28 stitches)

Round 5:  (hdc 3, hdc2 in next st) 7 times – one time around. Move the pin to the last hdc of the round. (35 stitches)

Round 6:  (hdc 4, hdc2 in next st) 7 times – one time around. Move the pin to the last hdc of the round. (42 stitches)

See the pattern?  Continue increasing like this until the crown measures 5 (6, 7) inches across from edge to edge.  Depending on your gauge and yarn, the piece may lie flat, or it may cup a bit – either way is fine.  From here on, you don't need the marker, so you can take it off and put it away.

Continue stitching in hdc in a coil until the cap measures 6 (7, 8) inches from the center to the edge.  Or, you can keep stitching, for more of a fold-up edge.  When you’re done, sc in the next 2 stitches.  Slip stitch in the next 2 stitches.  Finish off, leaving a 4-inch tail to weave in and finish.