Heeler Hat 4: Ears
You’ve made your base beanie, eyes, snout, and nose. Now you’re ready to move on to ears. (You can actually make the hat’s features in whatever order you please, I’ve just written them here in the order that I make them in.)
Each ear can be worked as a cone shape either in a continuous spiral so there’s no need to join and chain between the rounds OR you can join and chain 1 at the end of each round. Either way, you’ll increase each round by 2 stitches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Sewing the ear cone closed at the bottom will make it essentially a double-thickness triangle. But before you do that, make the inner ear triangle and sew it to the front of the cone so that your stitches will only go through the front layer of the ear.
If you have chosen the join and chain 1 method for the ear cone, you’ll want to make sure the seam created by your joins is either along the edge or on the back.
HOOK
I used the same hook for the ears as I used for the base beanie - my favorite Tulip Etimo 5.0mm crochet hook.
YARN
For the big sister:
The ear cone is Red Heart Super Saver in Soft Navy
The inner ear is the same in Buff or Cornmeal
For the little sister:
The ear cone is Red Heart Super Saver in Carrot
The inner ear is Super Saver With Love in Tangerine
As usual, whatever worsted weight yarn you’re using in colors that look right to you should be fine.
OTHER TOOLS
You’ll also need scissors or snips and yarn needle to weave in ends and sew pieces together and on to the hat.
STITCHES & SKILLS REQUIRED (US terms)
Magic ring
Ch: Chain stitch
SC: Single crochet
INC: Increase (two stitches in one space)
PATTERN for the ear cones
Round 1: In a magic ring, chain 1 and make 6 SC. Pull the tail tight to close the circle. If you think it will be helpful for you to keep track of the rounds, place a stitch marker in the last stitch so that you’ll know when you have completed a round.
Round 2: Increase in every 3rd stitch - (SC, SC, INC) x 2. (8 stitches)
Round 3: Increase in every 4th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, INC) x 2. (10 stitches)
Round 4: Increase in every 5th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (12 stitches)
Round 5: Increase in every 6th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (14 stitches)
Round 6: Increase in every 7th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (16 stitches)
Round 7: Increase in every 8th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (18 stitches)
Round 8: Increase in every 9th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (20 stitches)
Round 9: Increase in every 10th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (22 stitches)
Round 10: Increase in every 11th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (24 stitches)
Round 11: Increase in every 12th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (26 stitches)
Round 12: Increase in every 13th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (28 stitches)
Round 13: Increase in every 14th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (30 stitches)
Round 14: Increase in every 15th stitch - (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC) X 2. (32 stitches)
At this point, you need to eyeball it and decide if the ears look right to you. If you have tighter tension, you may want more rows to make the ears look the correct size for the character. If you have looser tension, you might want a few rows less. Do what looks best to your eye. If your eye is like, “I don’t know what looks right!” then don’t worry too much about it. Do 13 rows and be done with it.
Fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing the cone closed and then sewing it on to the hat, but don’t sew the cone closed until you have attached the triangle described below.
PATTERN for the inner ears
Row 1: Chain 2. In the first chain, SC. Chain 1, turn. (1 stitch)
Row 2: INC. Chain 1, turn. (2 stitches)
Row 3: INC, INC. Chain 1, turn. (4 stitches)
Row 4: SC in each stitch across. Chain 1, turn. (4 stitches)
Row 5: INC, SC, SC, INC. Chain 1, turn. (6 stitches)
Row 6: SC in each stitch across. Chain 1, turn. (6 stitches)
Row 7: INC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC. Chain 1, turn. (8 stitches)
Row 8: SC in each stitch across. (8 stitches)
Row 9: INC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, INC. Chain 1, turn. (10 stitches)
Row 10: SC in each stitch across. Fasten off leaving a long tail to sew this piece on to an ear cone.
Please refer to the important note at the top of this post before you start any sewing on the ears.
Once you have the inner ears sewn on and the ear cones sewn shut, you’re almost done. It’s time to put it all together in the next post!