Santa Claus is Coming to Town with a Free Santa Hat Crochet Pattern

It's Christmas time and you know what that means...Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

This free Santa hat crochet pattern is perfect for the holiday season. With this Santa hat, you'll look festive for all your Christmas events this year! Best of all, you can make one for everyone in your family...from babies all the way to adults.

Jump to:

• 🧶 Materials
• 📏 Hat sizes
• ⭐ Notes
• 🪝 Crochet abbreviations for this pattern
• 📝 Pattern
• ✨ Pompom

It's a simple pattern that can be made fast, in just one afternoon, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced. You can crochet this hat while you’re relaxing at home, watching tv, or just enjoying some quiet time for yourself in between all the holiday hustle and bustle.

The pattern uses the chain stitch, half-double crochet, and slip stitch...that's it! We'll work from the bottom of the hat to the top, finishing off with a fun pom-pom.

🧶 Materials

• 1 skein white #4/worsted weight yarn
• 1 skein red #4/worsted weight yarn
• I-9 / 5.5-mm hook
• Scissors
• Yarn needle

📏 Hat sizes

Follow the head circumference in the chart below for different sized hats. If you're making the hat for yourself or someone else in your home, I find it very useful to simply crochet the foundation row, then wrap it around your head to see how it fits.

⭐ Notes

• All instructions, abbreviations, and materials in this pattern are given in US terminology
• For a reminder of how to do the half-double crochet, watch the Lesson 2 video in my Learn to Crochet series.
• For a reminder of how to do a decrease (dec), watch my crochet pumpkin video, starting at 7:35, for instruction. Keep in mind, however, that the decrease instruction in that video is for single crochet. For a half-double crochet decrease (hdc2tog), yarn over, insert hook into next stitch, yarn over, pull through a loop...yarn over again, insert hook into next stitch, yarn over, pull through a loop...yarn over again, pull through all loops on hook.

🪝 Crochet abbreviations for this pattern

• st – stitch
• sl st – slip stitch
• ch  – chain
• ch st – chain stitch
• hdc – half-double crochet
• hdc2tog (dec) – decrease two half-double crochet together

📝 Pattern

Foundation Row: For an adult-size hat, using white yarn, ch 70, then sl st into first chain. Be sure not to twist chain.

Row 1: Ch 2 (as first hdc), then hdc in each st around; sl st at end of row. Be sure not to twist foundation row chain (70).

Rows 2-8:  Sl st into first ch, then hdc in each st around, sl st at end of each row (70). Repeat this for a total of 7 rows. Make sure to crochet into both front and back loops (as in image below), in order to avoid having a horizontal bar across your rows.

Switch color to red at sl st after row #8.

Rows 9-12: Using red yarn, ch 2, then hdc in each st around, sl st at end of each row, x4 rows (70).

Row 13: Ch 2, hdc in next 8 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 9 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (64).

Rows 14-15: Ch 2, hdc in each st around x 2 rows (64).

Rows 16-45: Continue this way through the next 30 rows - Ch 2, hdc in next 8 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 9 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end, x 1 row; then ch 2, hdc in each st around x 2 rows - for the next 30 rows. Each 3 rows will decrease in total count, in this way: Rows 16-18 (59 st), rows 19-21 (54 st), rows 22-24 (50 st), rows 25-27 (46 st), rows 28-30 (42 st), rows 31-33 (39 st), rows 34-36 (36 st), rows 37-39 (33 st), rows 40-42 (30 st), rows 43-45 (27 st).

Row 46: Ch 2, hdc in next 6 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 7 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (24).

Row 47: Ch 2, hdc in each st all the way around, sl st at end (24).

Row 48: Ch 2, hdc in next 4 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 5 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (21).

Row 49: Ch 2, hdc in each st all the way around, sl st at end (21).

Row 50: Ch 2, hdc in next 2 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 3 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (17).

Row 51: Ch 2, hdc in next 1 st, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 2 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (13).

Row 52: Ch 2, hdc2tog (dec), *hdc in next 1 st, hdc2tog (dec)*, continue from * to * all the way around, sl st at end (9). Stitch top together.

✨ Pompom

Wrap white yarn around fingers a minimum of 120 times, as in image below, and cut end.

Carefully slide yarn off fingers. Using another piece of white yarn, about 1 ft long, wrap around the middle of the bunch of yarn and knot very tightly (see image below). Leave a long tail from this piece of yarn; this is what you'll use to attach it to the top of the hat.

Using scissors, cut the ends of the loops, as in image below, being careful not to cut the long tail to attach it to the hat.

Trim pom-pom into a uniform circle. Using the long tail of yarn, tightly stitch pom-pom to the top of the hat.

Now, wear that Santa Hat and show it off to all your friends, because Santa Claus is coming to town! 🎅🏻

Love crochet? Check out my other fun crochet projects:

• Learn to Crochet
• How to C2C Crochet
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Easy Infinity Scarf Crochet Pattern
• Easy 2-Hour Slouch Hat
• How To Crochet a Winter Hat
• Crochet Pocket Shawl
• Polar Bear Stuffed Animal
• Modern Crochet Pillow
• Waffle Stitch Blanket
• Easy Chunky Scarf
• Love You With All My Heart Blanket

Merry Christmas!

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Did you make this Crochet Santa Hat? Let us know in the comments below!

Please be respectful and do not sell this pattern or finished product in any way, especially as your own. Instead, share the original article link or contact me for any commercial purposes (Contact Us found in the footer area of this page)!