First Free Pattern: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Hat

This past weekend I had a request for my Very Hungry Caterpillar Hat pattern. I have actually never written a pattern before and do most of my patterns from trial and error and recreate from memory and measurements. So I took on the challenge and wrote my very first pattern, so please bear with me if it is hard to follow, but I did try to be as thorough as possible.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Crochet Hat Pattern

I use Sugar and Creme Cotton Yarn For this Hat and some scrap yarn for the the eyes.

Starting with your basic white color and using a g hook for small children sizes and an h hook for adult sizes, or hook needed for gauge. (infant hats will need a smaller gauge, or larger gauge for larger adult size.)
1. Ch 2, work 8 hdc in 2nd chain from hook;do not turn. Cap is worked in a round. You can place a marker on the last stitch of each row to keep track. (8sts)
2. Work 2 hdc in each st around. (16 sts)
3. (2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next) around. (24 sts)
4. (Hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next) around. (32 sts)
5. Repeat row 4, hdc in last 2 sts. (42 sts)
6-11. Hdc in each st around.
Changing to lighter grass green
12-14. Sc in each st around. Fasten off. Weave in all ends.

Depending on the size you can add extra rows or take a few out as you are working the rounds of the hat.

For the hungry caterpillar I made smaller circles in dark emerald green and grass green, and one larger red circle for the head. I made two tiny yellow circles for the eyes. I used a basic circle stitch for the caterpillar's body segments, head, and eyes.

Using a g hook or size needed for gauge. Starting with dark emerald green. Make 3.
1. ch 2, insert hook in first chain and sc 4 sts. (4 sts) Circles are worked in rounds, do not connect. You can place a marker on the last stitch of each row to keep track.
2. ch 1, work 2 sc in each st around. (8 sts) fasten off and weave in ends.

Using a g hook or size needed for gauge. Starting with lighter grass green. Make 2.
1. ch 2, insert hook in first chain and sc 4 sts. (4 sts) Circles are worked in rounds, do not connect. You can place a marker on the last stitch of each row to keep track.
2. ch 1, work 2 sc in each st around. (8 sts) fasten off and weave in ends.

Using a g hook or size needed for gauge. Starting with red.
1. ch 2, insert hook in first chain and sc 4 sts. (4 sts) Circle is worked in rounds, do not connect. You can place a marker on the last stitch of each row to keep track.
2. ch 1, work 2 sc in each st around. (8 sts)
3. ch 1, (sc in first st and 2 sc in next st) around (12 sts) fasten off and weave in ends.

Using an f hook or size needed for gauge. Starting with yellow. Make 2.
1. ch 2, insert hook in first chain and sc 4 sts. (4 sts) fasten off and weave in ends.

For the inner pupils of the eyes I use emerald green and embroider the eyes into place. I do a technique that is a bit different than what others may do. First cut a 24 inch piece of emerald green sugar and creme yarn and split the yarn fibers of 4 in half so you have two strands of thickness to work with. Thread this through the eye of a yarn needle and fasten it underneath one of the yellow eye circles with a small knot. Then come up the middle of the yellow circle with needle and pull the yarn all the way up and then make a knot close to the circle. Do this knot twice to make it large. (So make a second knot around the first.) Then wrap the yarn around and around the knot 2 or 3 times to get the size of circle you want. Then once you have your desired size of the eye pupil, insert the needle back down a side of the green pupil into the yellow circle. Then come back up near the middle knot with the needle and go back down near the middle edge of the pupil. Do this about 3 to 4 times until the pupil is securely fastened down into the center of the yellow circle. You will do this particular stitch 3 times. Twice for the pupils of the eyes on the 2 yellow circles, and once for the mouth of the caterpillar on red circle. Fasten off and weave in all of your ends.

Sew your eyes onto the red circle head of the caterpillar. After this step I make the mouth of the caterpillar using the above technique used for the pupil of the eyes.

Using the other 2 emerald green strands leftover from when we split the fibers for the making of the eye pupils and using an f gauged hook, insert the yarn into the top side of the caterpillar's red circled head and chain 3. Fasten off and leave a little bit of yarn left out to make the antenna. Do this again for the caterpillar's other antenna on the other side of the top of the head.

Now it is time to sew!

Position all of the circles the way you want along the bottom center of the hat right above the grass green edging. Starting with the emerald green circle first positioned to the farthest left and then the grass green next and so on and so forth. Sew the red caterpillar head on last leaving the antennas not sewn on so it has a 3d effect. You can sew the circles straight across or in an up and down pattern as I have done to make the caterpillar look like he is walking along.

So there it is! I hope you have a lot of fun and if you have any questions at all regarding this pattern please feel free to email or message me. Thanks and happy crocheting!