Riffles and Runs Beanie

This is a cozy, squishy hat that uses combinations of DC clusters and shells to create a textured fabric reminiscent of water flowing over rocks and pebbles in a stream. The hat band is made with half double crochet stitches made into the “back bar,” or “horizontal bar,” which makes a flexible ribbed band. Each round of the hat body alternates placing 3 stitches in one stitch with stitching 3 stitches together (like a fan pointing upward followed by a fan pointing downward. Once you get the rhythm of it, this pattern, using bulky yarn (or two strands of worsted-weight yarn held double) and a large hook, just flies, and you have a finished hat in just an hour or two!