There are a lot of Liams

Liam Ramos, the Minnesotan preschooler who was kidnapped by ICE and held as bait for his entire family, then moved to a torture prison in Texas, was in Texas long enough for me to design and finish making his hat. 

Hundreds of children still remain. And Liam’s still in danger of being deported despite his asylum case. 

Every stitch in this hat is a prayer for justice. A rosary made of stitches, perhaps. Prayer beads. 

To be help beyond prayers, I donated to a legal aid organization whose main mission is to help immigrants through the legal processes that are so difficult to navigate. If you use this pattern, please consider supporting the National Immigrant Justice Center: https://immigrantjustice.org/. 

Liam Bunny hat

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This fits a small to medium adult head. Your mileage may vary, since I am a lefty, a chaos crocheter, and rarely write anything down. I welcome edits/corrections.

Materials

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Blue worsted weight yarn 

White worsted weight yarn

2 black embroidery thread skins

1 white embroidery thread skein

1 pink embroidery thread skein

Size 3.75/F Hook

Size H Hook 

Size 2.5 Hook

Embroidery needle

-Hat-

Worsted weight yarn 

Row 1: Ch 48 with size H

Row 2: Skip one chain, sc in each loop (47 stitches)

Row 3-69: ch 1, sc in back loop in each stitch, making sure you always have 47 stitches

You should now have a rectangle of about 35 ribs. Your starting yarn should be on opposite side from your working yarn. 

Bring together row 1 and your last row, slip stitching in the front of your last row into the chain from row one. This will create a fairly seamless join. Cut your working yarn to about 20 inches. 

Using a yarn needle, lace working yarn into very top stitch under two ribs, over two ribs to bring top of hat together. Tie off to the starting yarn. Weave in ends. Turn right side out. 

-Eyes-

Black embroidery thread 

White embroidery thread

Size 2.5mm hook

In black: 

Row 1- Ch3 to make loop

R2- Sc in loop six times

R3- 2sc in each stitch

R4- 2sc in each stitch

R5- 1sc in first stitch, then 2sc in next, repeat until join

R6- 1sc in next two stitches, 2sc in next stitch, repeat until join R6

R7- slip stitch in every stitch 

Use white embroidery thread and a size 3.75 hook to embroider two white eye highlights into each eye. Try to make them match. 

-Nose-

Use embroidery thread and a size 3.75 hook to embroider a heart shaped nose 1/2 and inch from cuff edge, in center of hat. My nose was about 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches

-Ears-

Ch 3 and join to make circle

R1- 6 sc into circle 

R2-3- ch1, sc in next two stitches, 2sc in next stitch, for a total of 9 stitches, join

R4- ch1, sc in next two stitches, 2sc in next stitch 

R6- 23- ch 1, sc in every stitch, join

R24- ch 1, sc in first stitch, reducer sc in next two stitches, sc in next four stitches, repeat pattern until join

R25- ch1, sc in each stitch until join. 

R26- ch1, sc in next 4 stitches, reducer sc in next 2 stitches, repeat until join. 

R27- ch1, sc in each stitch until join

R28- ch1, sc in next seven stitches, reducer sc in next two, repeat until join 

R29- ch 1, sc in each stitch until join. 

R30- ch1, sc for first three stitches, reducer sc in next two, repeat until join

R31- ch1, sc in every stitch 

-Ear flaps and ties-

Ch 16

Row 2- sc in every stitch 

Rows 3 - 15- ch 1, skip next stitch, sc in every stitch until last stitch- slip stitch in that stitch. 

Row 16- sc, hdc, hdc, sc, slip stitch

Use 9 strands of yarn in each flap’s pointed end (in between the hdc). Once you pull them though, you will have a total of 18 strands. Separate into 3rds, braid, and tie off with extra yarn. 

-Eyes, nose, ears an ear flap placement-

Your mileage will vary depending on side of your recipients head, how many starting chains and ribs you made, and how thick a brim you flip up. 

My hat’s eyes’ bottoms are are 21 stitches up from the bottom of the hat (including brim) and have three ribs between them.

My hat’s nose is on the brim, the top of the nose is 1/3 to 1/2 inch down from the edge of the brim. 

My hat’s ears are 3 ribs outside the outermost eye edge and 8-ish stitches north of my eye center points. 

To find the right placement for the ear flaps, I tried my hat on, crammed an ear flap in there and took it off and stitched it in place. I made the other side mirror it, but I checked to make sure it still covered my ear.