Curious George Beanie Hat for Story Reading Time Crochet Pattern

Curious George Beanie Hat for Story Reading Time Crochet Pattern

 free crochet pattern from cRAfterChick.com

When I started brainstorming on book characters to bring to life in the form of crocheted beanie hats for my Mother to wear during story reading time in her classroom, Curious George kept popping up. I adore anything monkey related so Curious George quickly made it to the top of my list.

Though it may look complicated it really is not too hard to work out. I think it will be a great crochet project for advanced beginners and up. Get your crochet on and make a fun Curious George crochet beanie hat of your own. Here is the picture I used for modeling this crocheted hat after:

Curious George Beanie Hat for Story Reading Time Crochet Pattern Notes

Project requires:
Darker Brown Yarn for Beanie Hat-  (I use a lot of Red Heart Saver yarn but any medium to normal weight yarn will do)
Contrast lighter Brown Yarn for face area, ears and trim
White Yarn for outer part of eye
Black Yarn for eye pupils, nose, mouth and eye liner at top of eye
“J” hook (6.0 mm)
“H” hook (5.00 mm)
Scissors or Yarn Cutter
Blunt large eye yarn / tapestry needle to weave in ends

Abbreviations used in this pattern (US crochet stitches):
ch – chain
st – stitch
sl st – slip stitch
sc – single crochet (US)
sctog – single crochet two st together (US)
dc – double crochet (US) 

Pattern Instructions:

These features will fit most sizes from toddler up to adult male. If you are going to attempt this on an infant size I recommend omitting a few rounds from face area and start with a chain 4 less.  You can also switch to a smaller hook like D or E to scale down the size of the features without changing up the pattern. Hope you like this as well.

*Note: This project is worked in the round on the base of a magic ring. If you do not know how to do this, please see tutorial here from: yarntomato on CrochetMe

The hat in this picture is made with my Easy Peasy  Pre-Teen / Teen / Women Double Crochet Beanie Pattern which you can find here as a foundation for the project.  Want it in another size? No worries. Head over to Easy Peasy All Family Sizes Free Double Crochet Beanie Patterns to select the size you want for your project.

Hat Base: Using “J” Hook and dark brown yarn 

Use Easy Peasy Crochet Beanie Size of your choice

Contrast Band Hat: using lighter brown yarn

Starting off we are going to put a simple contrast color band to the bottom of the hat.  For this sl st your lighter brown yarn (the same to be used for face area part) to a st on the last round. Ch 1, then work 1 sc in each st around, sl st to top of first st in round before finishing off.

Once you have completed your beanie for the base you are ready to start on making your own Curious George hat for reading time, costume or even everyday fun. This one is for my Mom to wear in her classroom and it has been a giant hit with the students. Put it to the side until you are ready to finish off the hat and assemble pieces.

Face Area: using contrast lighter brown yarn
Round 1:   Ch 15. Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of following 15 ch. Ch 1 and turn. The Ch 1 does not count as a st through this part of pattern. (15 sc)
Round 2:  Place 2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 13 st and 2 sc in last st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (17 sc)
Round 3:  Place 2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 15 st and 2 sc in last st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (19 sc)
Round 4-7:  Place 1 sc in each st across. Ch 1 and turn. (19 sc)
Round 8:  Sctog first two st together, 1 sc in next 15 st and sctog last 2 st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (17 sc)
Round 9:  Sctog first two st together, 1 sc in next 13 st and sctog last 2 st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (15 sc)
Round 10:  Sctog first two st together, 1 sc in next 11 st and sctog last 2 st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (13 sc)
Round 11:  Sctog first two st together, 1 sc in next 9 st and sctog last 2 st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Round 12:  Sctog first two st together, 1 sc in next 7 st and sctog last 2 st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (9 sc)
Round 13-14:  Place 1 sc in each st across. Ch 1 and turn. (9 sc)
Round 15:  Place 2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 7 st and 2 sc in last st of round. Ch 1 and turn. (11 sc)
Round 16:  Sctog first two st, sc in next 2 st, sl st in each of the next 3 st, sc in next 2 st, sctog last 2 st in round. Ch 1 and turn.  (6 sc)
Round 17:  Sctog first two st, sc in next 2 st, sctog last 2 st. Ch 1 and turn. (4 sc)
Round 18: Work a round of sc around the perimeter of the face area to give it a more well defined and polished look. Sl st in center st between eye indent on top of face area.
Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to be able to securely sew on your face area on to the beanie hat.  Put face area aside until you are ready to assemble hat.

*From now on you will be using the “H” hook to complete your crocheted features.*

Eye Whites (Make 2): using white yarn 
Round 1: In magic circle, ch 1 before placing 6 sc in circle.  Pull circle closed and sl st in to the top of the 1st st in round. Note: The starting 1 ch in all sc rounds do not count as a stitch. They are used to hide seams better. (6 sc)
Round 2:  Ch 1 before placing 2 sc in first st and each of the following 5 st around. Sl st to top of 1st st in round. (12 sc)
Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew eyes on to face area during assembly time.  I tend to judge about 2 to 2 1/2 times the perimeter of what I want to attach to my hats.  Put eye whites to the side until ready to assemble.

Eye Pupils (Make 2): using black yarn
Round 1:  In magic circle, ch 1 before placing 4 sc. Pull circle closed and sl st in to the top of the 1st st in round. (4 sc)
Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to secure the pupils on to the eye whites during assembly. Put to the side until ready for assembly.

Upper liner to eyes (Make 2): using black yarn
With black yarn, ch 5. Pull yarn through leaving a long enough tail to sew on with your large blunt eye tapestry / yarn needle before cutting yarn. Put to side until assembly.

Ear Front (Make 2): using lighter brown contrast yarn for ear fronts
Round 1:   In magic circle, ch 1 before placing 6 sc in circle.  Pull circle closed and sl st in to the top of the 1st st in round. Note: The starting 1 ch in all sc rounds do not count as a stitch. They are used to hide seams better. (6 sc)
Round 2:  Ch 1 before placing 2 sc in first st and each of the following 5 st around. Sl st to top of 1st st in round. (12 sc)
Round 3:   Ch 1 before putting 2 sc in first st, *1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next*  Repeat * until you have 2 st left. Sl st in last 2 st. (15 sc)
Round 4:  Ch 1 before putting 2 sc in first st, *1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next*  Repeat * until you have 3 st left. Sl st in last 3 st. (18 sc)
Cut yarn, pull through and finish off. No tail needed for ear fronts in assembly so cut off any additional length after finishing off.

Ear Back (Make 2): using lighter brown contrast yarn for ear backs
Rounds 1-4: Do the same as you just did on ear fronts but do not cut yarn or finish off. Ch 1 and turn.
Round 5-6:  Ch 1 before placing 1 sc in first st and following 17 st. Ch 1 and turn. (18 sc)
Pull yarn through leaving a long enough tail to secure ear to ear front and then sew on to your Curious George crochet hat.

Nose: using black yarn for nose
Ch 8 before pulling through yarn.  Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to secure your smile on to George’s face area.

Mouth:  This will require three pieces chain stitches with tails made with the black yarn to sew them in place on the face area.
Main smile piece – With black yarn, ch 15 before pulling through yarn.  Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to secure your smile on to George’s face area.
Smile sides (Make 2) – With the black yarn, ch 6 before cutting off yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew your smile sides on to the face of Curious George.

Assembly:
A little tip- When sewing on features for a beanie hat, I work from the bottom up.  That way you can judge your space better and don’t end up with a bunch of features squished in the bottom if you run out of room.
I use straight pins to pin my features in place to plan their positions but that is not necessary. You can eyeball it.

Smile assembly:  You are now going to work on the face area starting at the bottom and working up.  Using your blunt eye yarn needle and tail from main smile piece, sew the smile in a curve -like a smile ).  Make sure you leave enough room to attach the sides of the smile next.  Use the ch 8 for the nose, sew nose into place on the face area above the smile in an upside down frowny face like curve. (see pictures below for clarification on this positioning)

Eye assembly: Take the tail from one black eye pupil and use your yarn needle to sew it in place near the bottom of an eye white, not center to get George’s look.  Once attached to eye white, pull yarn through to back and finish off.
Now take the tail from the eye liner ch 5 to sew it along the top rim of eye.  Pull yarn through to back and finish off.
Now that pupil and eye liner have been assembled to an eye, use your needle and tail left on the eye white to securely sew your eye in to desired position onto the face area. (See pictures below to see my placement) Pull yarn to the back of face area before finishing off and cutting off any extra length.
Repeat this process for the second eye.

Your Face Area should now be complete and ready to attach! Line it up on the beanie hat in the position you would like it on the front of your beanie hat. I always put my seam from my crocheted beanie hats to the back of the project but you could use the face area to cover most of seam on front if you choose to do so.    Take your yarn needle and use the tail left previously on face area  to sew it on to the Curious George hat.  Once you have it secured, pull yarn through to inside of hat before finishing off and cutting off any additional tail length if necessary.

Ear assembly:  Place ear front in front of ear back.  Using your large blunt eye yarn / tapestry needle and the tail you left on ear back to sew both together all around ear.  Your yarn should now be at back in corner of ear bottom.   Repeat process for second ear.  Then using needle sew the ears into place in the desired location on side of beanie hat.  You can use my pictures below to see where I placed my own.  Cut yarn and finish off.

All done. You now have one completed Curious George crocheted beanie hat ready for story time, costumes or just everyday wearing fun.   You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate how cute this little monkey translates in crochet.  He makes me smile. 😀

Here are some pictures to show how the Curious George story time hat looks worn from different directions when crocheting is completed:

 

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