Driftwood Spirit Beanie: Free Beginner Friendly Crochet Hat Pattern for Game Day

Nothing beats watching your favorite sports team score the winning points in the game – except when you’re cheering them on wearing a handmade game day beanie you crocheted yourself! If you are ready to proudly wear your team colors, then the Driftwood Spirit Beanie pattern is for you. The 3 color block stripes are made for showing off your favorite team’s colors, and using the crumped griddle stitch, the beanie has a wonderfully subtle texture using only single and double crochet stitches (which also makes it pretty beginner friendly!). So if you are looking for a quick way to add some team spirit to your life, then keep scrolling to find the free beanie pattern below (with a video tutorial)!

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What’s today? GAME DAY!

While there are many things to love about fall rolling around, one of my favorites is the return of football. Since high school, football has always been a large part of my life. In my younger years, I was in the marching band and co-captain of my cheerleading squad (and yes, I did both activities in the same season). Marching band then continued into my college years where I watched Joe Flacco take us to the national championship game (sadly, we lost).

After college, I ended up following the Baltimore Ravens because I had to keep rooting for Joe Flacco as a fellow Blue Hen. I’m the type of person who needs a reason to follow a team, so him being drafted to a fairly local team gave me a reason to continue watching football (and hey, we may not have won that national championship game, but we did end up winning a Super Bowl!). Plus, their colors – purple and black? Iconic!

From Driftwood Beanie…

Throughout my school years and beyond, game days have always consisted of crafted together hair ribbons, temporary tattoos of school logos or mascots, and spirit gear decked out in team colors. So, it probably comes at no surprise that I created a pattern perfect for showing off that spirit on game day.

What you may find surprising though, is this pattern is actually a re-write of a pattern I released back in 2021. The original Driftwood Beanie was only the second beanie pattern I had ever written and released, but as a baby designer, I was full of imposter syndrome and terrified of gauge. Because of that, this pattern was designed as made to measure and didn’t have the colorwork the beanie pattern now has.

Now, made to measure in itself isn’t bad. The good thing about made to measure patterns is you can use any yarn weight you want and make virtually any size, trying it on as you go. But the bad thing about made to measure is it takes all the decision making off the designer’s shoulders (who is the expert in their design) and instead puts in on the maker’s. For experienced crocheters, this may not be a problem, but for those newer to crochet or those who struggle with understanding construction, then it can be a big problem. And with this pattern having such a beginner friendly stitch pattern, there’s no reason for it to not be accommodating for beginners.

…to Driftwood Spirit Beanie

So, now that I have a much better understanding of gauge and several more beanie pattern’s worth of confidence under my belt, I decided to overhaul my original pattern. I’ve also been wanting to make a game day beanie for a while now, so it seemed like a good fit to combine both of those ideas.

The new pattern now has stitch and row counts for 5 sizes from Baby through Adult Large, so even beginners can easily follow along (but, of course, as in all of my patterns, I have a “Customization” section in the PDF telling you how to adapt the pattern, if you wish). It is also made top down, and has a messy bun and slouchy version as well as the fitted beanie, giving you plenty of options (the fitted pattern is found free on the blog below, all 3 styles are available in the downloadable PDFs available on Etsy or Ravelry). And, of course, we have the 3 color blocks, perfect for proudly displaying your team colors (but it’s also really pretty with any 3 coordinating colors!).

Recommended Yarn

This pattern uses #4/worsted weight yarn. I originally started making my samples in Wool of the Andes Superwash from WeCrochet, but ultimately decided on Swish from WeCrochet instead. Both work fantastically for this pattern (really, any worsted weight yarn that matches gauge will do), but I ended up going with Swish because of the colors they offer. They are bold, vibrant, and come in almost every color needed for team colors. I already love Swish because of how soft it is (it’s a superwash merino wool) and how easy it is to work with, but I was impressed with the color selection. In fact, I’m considering making a blog post showing you what colors to pick for all of the NFL teams. Would anyone be interested in something like that?

(Follower exclusive: Shopping WeCrochet? Use code “AWCFROMNICOLE” for 15% off your order!).

So, ready to get making? Scroll down for the free fitted beanie pattern and video tutorial!

While the pattern can be viewed for free here on the blog, an ad-free PDF can be purchased on Etsy or Ravelry. In addition to being print optimized, the PDF has color coded stitch/round counts so you can easily follow the size you are making, plus, has instructions for making a messy bun or slouchy beanie in all 5 sizes, too!

Driftwood Spirit Beanie: Free Crochet Hat Pattern

Notes

* This pattern is written using US terminology.

* The starting chain at the beginning of the round does NOT count as a stitch, so the first stitch will go in the same stitch as the starting chain. When you close each round, you will slip stitch to the top of the first stitch, NOT the starting chain.

* Numbers in ( ) at the beginning of the instruction refer to row number. Numbers in ( ) at the end of the instruction refer to stitch count for that row. Stitches in ( ) within the round instruction indicate stitches you will place in the same stitch. For example, (sc, dc) means you will place both a sc and a dc in the same stitch. This is an increase. Numbers in ( ) within the round instructions indicate the number of times you do something.

* When a number comes before a st abbreviation (2 sc), it means work that number of the designated st into the same st (2 sc into the same st).

* Information pertaining to sizing will always be in the following order: (Baby, Toddler, Child, Adult Small, Adult Large). To make adjustments to sizing, see the Construction and Customization sections in the paid PDFs (Etsy, Ravelry).

* Stitch counts are only listed when they change. If no stitch count is listed, assume it is the same as the last listed stitch count.

Round 1: ch 1, working into the center of the ring, sc (12, 13, 15, 16, 17) times, slst to first st to join (12, 13, 15, 16, 17)

Round 2: ch 1, TURN, 2 sc in each st around [Toddler & Adult Large only: in the last st, place 3 sc instead of 2], slst to first st to join (24, 27, 30, 32, 35)

Round 3: ch 1, TURN, (sc, dc) in each st around, slst to first st to join (48, 54, 60, 64, 70)

Round 4: ch 1, TURN, *sc, dc** repeat from * to ** around, slst to first st to join

• NOTE: Your first st goes in the join st from the previous round
• Helpful Hint 1: Your sc sts stack on top of sc sts and your dc sts stack on top of dc sts from the previous round.
• Helpful Hint 2: It is normal for your beanie to be very scrunchy/rippled at this point. It will calm down once you start adding more rounds.

Rounds 5-(7, 8, 8, 9, 10): Repeat Round 4

Change to Color 2 using the color change method described in this blog post.

Rounds (8, 9, 9, 10, 11) – (13, 14, 16, 17, 18): Repeat Round 4

• NOTE: Because this stitch pattern doesn’t have a designated right or wrong side, either can face outward. When you start your first round of this section (Round 8, 9, 9, 10, 11), make it so you are working on the outside (i.e. right side) of your beanie, flipping your beanie “inside out” if needed. Having the first round of the new color on the outside of the beanie gives the color change rounds a cleaner look.

Change to Color 3 using the color change method described in this blog post.

Rounds (14, 15, 17, 18, 19) – (18, 20, 22, 25, 27): Repeat Round 4

Round (19, 21, 23, 26, 28): ch 1, TURN only if your last round was on the wrong side (if you are already on the right side, stay on the right side), sc in each st around, slst to first st to join

Round (20, 22, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30): Switching to a hook one size smaller (optional), repeat Round (19, 21, 23, 26, 28)

Fasten off and weave in your ends. Use your yarn needle and your starting tail (or a new piece of yarn) to sew around and close the small opening at the top of your beanie if you did not use a magic circle. Add a pom pom if desired.

Want an ad-free, print optimized version of this pattern with color coded stitch and round counts + instructions for messy bun and slouchy options? Purchase the PDF in one of my shops: Etsy, Ravelry

A big THANK YOU to my testers:

Kendra: keporiginals	Tammy: IdahoTaylorMade
Annabelle: Faithful_stitches_	Carrie: Crazy.cat.lady.creations
Jen: parkej4	Laurie: Laurieleeca
Marla: fable_and_bloom	Cris: cris_is_crafty
Darlene: Darlene_Rowe	Jennie: Crochetbypeekaboo
Leeah: one_in_custody	Sydney: nightmarestitchesbysyd
Marlesa: smileymarle	Blanca: beeboss19
Kimberly: elevatedknits	Jenna: jkemerick
Bethany: samanthalillysweethearts	Christi: CerdaLane

When you make one, I want to see it! When posting on social media, be sure to tag @fromnicolescreations and use hashtag #fromnicolescreations.

Happy stitching!