Adding Braided Ties..

Adding Braided Ties to Hats and Bonnets Tutorial.

I remember the first time I tried to add braided ties to my first crochet hat. I had no idea what I was doing even though I knew how to braid, I didn’t know how to add them to a hat. I tied the yarn to the ear flaps then started braiding.

I still have the first crochet hat I made two years ago, it’s a reminder to myself of how far I’ve come in such a short time and even though I made some mistakes I still got a lot of compliments on the hat because like me, most people didn’t see anything wrong with the mistakes I’d made or maybe it’s because I’d used black yarn.

With 6 new bonnet patterns almost ready to be published I thought it was time to put together a tutorial on how to add braided ties to crochet hats or bonnets, I’m sure the same technique can also be used for knit pieces.

Adding Braided Ties Tutorial..

Cutting Strips of yarn..

Length..

First things first is to decide how long you are going to want your braided ties to be. For my newborn bonnets I usually make the ties about 6-7 inches long and my toddler hats will be 8-9 inches long. When cutting your strips of yarn you will want to double these numbers and add an extra inch or two because you will lose a little bit of length when braiding your ties.

For my newborn bonnets I will be cutting my strips 20″ long and my toddler bonnet strips will be cut at 24″ long.

Note: I use no pull hair elastics from the dollar store around the bottom of my braids, if you are going to be using a yarn knot then you will want to add 2 extra inches to account for the knot.

Amount of Strips..

The amount of strips you will want to cut for your hat will depend on how thick you want your braids to be. One of the first bonnets I made I only used 3 strips of yarn so I had some pretty thin braids. Now I usually cut about 22-24 strips for each side so this will give you some nice thick full braids.

Cut 44-48 strips for 1 bonnet. For my example I cut 48 strips.

Adding Strips to hat/bonnet..

Divide the 48 strips of yarn you have into 2 piles.

In my bonnets I have working spaces for the ties, place 24 strips centered in one of your working spaces as shown below.

Separate the top side of strips into 3 piles of 8 and the bottom strips into 3 piles of 8 as shown below.

Now group the 3 top strip piles with the 3 bottom strip piles as shown below.

Now you’re ready to braid your ties. The above steps are included in the video below as well as how to braid your ties and finish them off.

Check out these other ways I use to attach braids..

~Happy Hooking~