After a year of heavy duty wear and tear, my 5 year old daughter’s hat finally bit the dust. This is usually good news in my household. It means I finally had an excuse to make her a new hat!

So I mentioned this to her and she says, “Or, you can just buy me a hat from the store.”

Record. Screech.

I must have looked stricken, because she very quickly said, “Or you can make me one!”

Y’all. I felt so bad. I started worrying that maybe my poor kid, surrounded by her school friends, just wanted a PLAIN OLD HAT from a DEPARTMENT STORE and here she was stuck with a crocheting Mother who always made her one and she felt like she couldn’t be honest with me lest she hurt my feelings.

So I said, “Olive it is OK if you want me to just buy a hat.”

She insisted that a handmade hat was fine, but still, I was fretting. So I came up with a compromise: I would both make AND buy her a new hat. Then, every morning, she could just choose which one she wanted. She liked that idea, so I got to work.

And deep in my heart, I imagined myself in competition with this department store hat. And I was going to CREAM it. So I pulled out all the stops with this hat. Her favorite colors! Sparkley beads! Hearts! Fluffy pom pom! I literally tried to do everything she loved in a single accessory.

And it worked! She loved it! And, even better, when I took her to the store to pick out her store bought 2nd hat, she stared at the racks for a solid 5 minutes. Then she said, “I don’t want any of these. The hat you made me is already the best.”

Mothering. Win.

Cool things you will learn in this pattern: Simple cables, including hearts! And there is an included tutorial to teach you how to bead your hat, if desired. Yes, these beads are crocheted directly into the hat and NOT sewn on. This is absolutely awesome because it means you won’t be stuck sewing on missing or loose beads for the rest of the winter. Also, did I mention it is completely seamless? Further, this hat has also been sized up to fit adults who love hearts and a little sparkle as well.