Mindless Mandala: A Crochet Beanie

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As a maker, there are few things that I love making more than beanies! Who doesn’t love a good beanie with a good fit that is easy and quick to make?  Deep into Covid, (starting March 2020 here in the US) -while I was mostly staying at home and not going into the stores – I decided to get an early start on my Fall and Winter season inventory for my local shop. Since going into the store was not an option at that time, I did something I almost never do- I shopped at JoAnn’s online!  I know a lot of people do this, but for me yarn shopping is very hands-on.  I enjoy feeling the yarn and seeing the colors in person and having a good close-up look.  But honestly, I am so glad that I did this.  I guess I always imagined that my local stores – with at least 4 aisles of yarn – had most of what was available IN THE STORE, but they just do not. I was overwhelmed with all the choices that I had online that were not available to me locally anywhere.

Once I found this Lion Brand Mandala Tweed Stripes, I knew that this was going to be the yarn that I used for my new Fall Season Beanie Inventory. **at the time I write this for my blog, this yarn is on sale from $7.99 a cake to $4.99 a cake**

I chose four cakes to start: Shooting Star, Knock on Wood, Cats Eye, and White Elephant. This yarn is amazing! Not only does it work up beautifully, but the colors are just gorgeous! Each beanie matches so much with all the colors!  I like to pair these beanies with distressed flannels and plaids in my local shop.  I was able to get 3 full beanies from each cake with a good size ball leftover – I am about to gather all the leftover bits and make another fun “leftover tweed beanie.”

This pattern is intended for personal use only.  This pattern -and all my patterns- are offered for free or a small fee to help support my family so please do not redistribute, sell, copy or use them in any way not in accordance with fairness.

You may sell products made from this pattern, but please give me credit as the designer.  Please do not use my photos as your own work, but you may use my photos to reference back to my blog, Etsy, Pinterest, IG or FB, but please link back to me.

If you find any problems with this pattern, please let me know and if you have any problems with any of it feel free to message me and ask for support.

Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to me, Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Stitches Guide: *US Terms apply

Chain: Ch

Stitch: St

Single Crochet: SC

Inc Sc or Inc or 2sc: make two single crochet stitches in the same stitch as indicated

Half-double Crochet: hdc

Invisible Decrease: inv. dec. – this is an invisible single crochet decrease

Decrease: Dec or Sc2tog

Invisible Single Crochet 3 Together: inv3sctog

Double Crochet: DC

BLO: back loop only/ FLO: front loop only

This is the easiest and quickest beanie!  This is my go-to beanie pattern when I need to make up a bunch really quick or when I am just trying to keep it simple.  This simple pattern really highlights fun self-striping yarn like this Mandala Tweed Stripes by Lion Brand. You can easily make an entire beanie in around an hour once you get this pattern flowing.  Add some fun patches like these by All This Wood LLC on Etsy or pompoms to make them even more fun!  I’ve decided to name this one The Mindless Mandala because it really is quite “mindless.”  After you finish with the increase rounds, you can just GO! What I like to do is open the calculator on my phone and calculate how many stitches I need to do – for example, after the last increase round it might be 72×14=1008 – so, I put 1008 in my calculator, start my audio book and just GO!  I count to somewhere around 40-70 and then subtract. Easy, simple and Mindless!!

Please measure the diameter of the hat when prompted to ensure proper fit as your gauge may differ from mine. This pattern is so easy and easy to adjust to different sizes just by doing less increases or adding some if you need to go bigger.

I used my size I/5.5mm hook for this beanie pattern with this yarn.

Working in the CONTINUOUS Round: *I do not join and chain but continue to work in the next stitch. Use a stitch marker for this so you don’t lose your place.

When working in the continuous round and using hdc, I make one simple sc at the start of round 2 to account for the jog.  By round 3 this is not needed. Working in the continuous spiral ensures that you do not have any joining seam.

Chain 2.  Half double crochet 8 in the second chain from the hook and work over your starting tail.

Starting in the first hdc from round 1, make 1 sc and 1hdc in that stitch and then 2hdc in each stitch around. (16) *Still work over the starting tail. After getting done with all 16 stitches for that round, pull the starting tail to cinch up the opening.  You can now trim that tail or weave it in.

You want to move your stitch marker to the last stitch of each round so you know when you get to the end.

Round 3: (1 hdc in next stitch, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (24)

Round 4: (1 hdc in next 2 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (32)

Round 5: (1 hdc in next 3 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (40)

Round 6: (1 hdc in next 4 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (48)

Round 7: (1 hdc in next 5 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (56)

Round 8: (1 hdc in next 6 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (64)

Round 9: (1 hdc in next 7 stitches, 2 hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (72)

**check your diameter across. You can find many hat circumferences charts online, but generally for adult sizes this measurement should now be 7-7.5 inches across – up to 8” for Large/Men’s.  If it is not, you will need to either pull out a round if too big or add a round or two if too small (add round by increasing keeping to the scheme above).  You can also adjust your gauge by switching hooks.  **you can adjust this for kids just by stopping on whatever increase above gives you the proper measurement across the crown.

Rounds 10-**21/24 – work straight with no increases.  I have found that this number will largely depend on your yarn.  For this Mandala Tweed Stripes, I worked 12 rows for a standard fit and 14 rows for a slightly slouchy fit. You will be adding a few more rows of border/brim so take this into consideration when you are checking length.

Once you finish with these increasing rows make about 10-15 sc to account for the continuous spiral jog and then slip stitch into the next stitch.

Chain 2 (not a stitch) and work alternating Front Post Double Crochet (Fpdc) and Back Post Double Crochet (Bpdc) around the hat. *fpdc in the first, bpdc in the next, fpdc, bpdc etc. alternating all the way around.

End by slip stitching to the first fpdc and not the chain 2.

Chain 1 and sc in the same space and sc in each chain around. **I will sometimes go down one hook size to do this last round of sc.  I try on and see what I feel is needed.

Finish off and weave in the end.  I prefer to use an invisible finish off for beanies so if you are not familiar with that be sure to check it out and learn that easy technique that makes a nice, clean end. *If adding tags make this finish off the back of your beanie.

The last step if you want to use a pompom is to sew a small button just inside the top hole – on the inside of the beanie – and then pull the pompom loop through the hole and secure around the button.  This is important if you ever want to wash your beanie. *The hairdryer will fluff up your pompoms if ordering and having them shipped.

If you love this beanie, feel free to check out these other two free on my blog: The Rainbow Beanie and The Butter Beanie.

No time right now?  No problem. Here is a Pin for you to save to come back to for later.

Thank you for visiting me.

XOXO, Kristi

I’d love to catch up over on IG @theburgundybasket