Crocheted baby hats for donations

I love to knit and crochet. I do both on a regular basis, doing one or the other almost daily. I make things for my children. I make things for myself. I make things for friends who are having babies. I make things to donate. It is something I do to keep myself awake in the evening.

One of the things I make a lot of is baby hats. I like to donate them to the local hospital for the new babies. They always need more hats, so I enjoy taking them a large bag of new hats every now and again. Since I am expecting again, I figured I would have a bag of hats to take with me when I go to deliver my baby (as I did with my last child) so they have more on hand. It was nice when I did this last time as it turned out they did not have any baby boy hats (except those I had just brought to them), so my son got a hat I had made and donated. Here's my start for an August baby.

I needed something quick and easy to make so I can make several during naps and evenings. I have so many projects going at all times I need some of them to be quick ones or the projects take forever to finish. I searched for different ideas, and found this one as well as this one on Pinterest. (Yes, I am definitely on Pinterest a lot for different ideas for many things.) I decided to make something similar as my donation hat. I don't follow a pattern per se, other than what I have found works easily for me for my purpose, though these are definitely where I drew my inspiration.

This is my crocheting bag. I also do small knitting projects out of this bag as I have many colors of yarn inside, but this is what I go to for these hats. I can fit several colors of yarn inside (my favorite for these hats is currently Caron Simply Soft yarn) and the outside pockets are great for all the other necessities or the hat in progress if I have to pause for a while. Yes, it is a Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty One (they are perfect for so many things and since I sell 31, of course I use what I sell).

Here is a hat after my increasing rounds. At this point, I just do my last rounds as is, without increasing any further.

Here is a finished hat. I like to add a stripe of a different color just to give the hats a little something fun without going too crazy. This keeps it simple while giving it a little extra.

I make different sizes to take since babies are not all born with the same size head. I make extra small hats for those born early, or twins, since they tend to have smaller heads and the newborn size would be too big. I make a small and a medium size as well (small for newborn size and medium for those babies who are born a little larger - say 10 lb babies). The hats are stretchy, but this gives a little more options for the nurses.