Crochet Chicken Hat Takes World By Storm

Have you seen the crochet chicken hat lady? She started to gain attention online a few years ago. Now she’s really trending. People all over the word have fallen in love with the cute little hats that she makes for chickens to wear. Adorably, she calls herself a “chicken milliner.” That’s right, she designs unique, adorable, fashionable hats for chickens.

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Who Is The Crochet Chicken Hat Lady?

Mandy Watts is an Australian woman who started a business for years ago making crochet chicken hats. Thanks to the power of social media, people all around the world began to take notice. As a result, she now has a thriving business creating these cute crochet hats for chickens everywhere. You can follow her on Instagram and on Etsy.

What Is a Chook?

If you checked out Mandy’s social media, then you might have noticed her business name: Here Chook Chook. What is a chook? It’s Australian slang for a chicken. Mandy has shared that she grew up around chooks. She’s always loved them, and she has close to a dozen of her own now.

Interestingly, she also shares that her chooks helped her through her grief. In less than five years, she lost a son, sister, and father. Sitting outside watching the chickens peck gave her focus and made her smile. We know that crochet can also help us heal through grief, so it’s no surprise that the crochet chicken hat business came into being!

Learn More About The Crochet Chicken Hat Lady

Check out this YouTube video that allow you to see her adorable little creations in action:

In this video, Mandy shares how Australian Poultry Magazine did a Facebook post showcasing her crochet chicken hats. The post got over one million views. As a result, she was inundated with requests for her makes.

She shows off her seasonal crochet chicken hats – the Christmas ones you see shared here in this post as well as witch hats for Halloween, etc. However, she says that the viking crochet hat for chickens is probably her most popular design. People also like the bonnets and top hats.

Mandy Watts In a Chicken Book

A 2019 book called This Chicken Life features Mandy. The book is all about “chickens and the people who love them.” Specifically, it’s about modern day Australians who love chickens. It has stories of rescue chickens, Instagram chickens, and chicken therapy. The book shares the story of how it all began for Mandy. She saw a chicken wearing a toy cowboy hat on a friend’s post, decided to start crocheting hats for her own chickens, and social media took delight in her makes. It all developed from there. This is such great inspiration to just follow your own passions and see what unfolds!

Knit and Crochet Chicken Hat Patterns

Mandy Watts doesn’t actually use crochet patterns. People send her ideas for new hats, and she just sits down and designs them. She doesn’t write up her patterns. You can draw inspiration from this and come up with your own original designs!

However, if you’re looking for knit and crochet chicken hat patterns, we’ve found some for you. We noticed that if you simply search for crochet chicken hat patterns, you’re going to get a lot of patterns for humans featuring chickens as the design. Those are great, too, of course. However, if you want to crochet hats for chickens, then check out these options:

• UniquelyMore on Etsy has clearly been inspired by Mandy’s designs. She primarily sells finished items. However, she does have crochet patterns for sale, including a crochet chicken hat with a gingerbread man pattern for the holidays.
• Instructables has a knit chicken hat pattern. This is a simple stockinette knit hat, made tiny for the chickens. This will also give you an idea of general chicken hat sizes, which can help you in knitting or crocheting your own designs.

And if you happen to have an Addi Knitting Machine, then check this out:

Alternatively, you can search for tiny knit and crochet hat patterns. They might not originally be intended for chickens, but worked small, they can absolutely be adapted to this end. For example, a few years back, Knithacker shared a tiny knit witches hat, originally designed as a keychain object or fascinator, that was adapted to a chicken hat.

You Might Also Like:

• Crafters Pets: When Your Furry Friend Loves Your Yarn (+ Links to Free Pet Patterns)
• 83 Free Pet Patterns to Knit and Crochet
• 49 Free Knit and Crochet Cat Patterns

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Crochet Chicken Hat and why did it “take the world by storm”?

The Crochet Chicken Hat is a free pattern for a crocheted hat designed to look like a chicken is sitting on someone’s head… complete with a body, wings, and tail. It went viral because it’s both impressively crafted AND absolutely hilarious. It captures that perfect intersection of “I can’t believe someone made this” and “I need one immediately.” The internet love for absurdist, unexpected crafts found its perfect expression in a hat that makes you look like you have a chicken on your head. It became a genuine sensation in the crafting community.

Is the Chicken Hat pattern beginner-friendly?

Intermediate… the main hat body is straightforward crochet in the round, but all the chicken details (body shape, wings, comb, beak, eyes, tail feathers) require multiple separate pieces and assembly. Getting the chicken to look recognizably like a chicken requires some attention to proportion and placement. The result is absolutely worth it though! If you’ve made basic crochet hats and some amigurumi, you have the skills. The viral popularity of this hat means there’s a lot of community support, photos to reference, and encouragement available.

What yarn do I need for the Crochet Chicken Hat?

The main hat in white or a neutral chicken-body color (cream, light yellow, grey for a grey chicken). Red yarn for the comb and wattle. Orange or yellow for the beak and feet/claws if included. Black for the eyes. Small amounts of contrasting yarn for wing detail if included. Machine washable acrylic in worsted weight is practical… this hat will be worn and shown off frequently and needs to be washable. The yarn amounts are relatively small… this is another great stash-busting project.

Has Marly made the Crochet Chicken Hat herself?

The blog post celebrates the Crochet Chicken Hat phenomenon! The pattern became famous in the crochet community and Marly, being completely in tune with what excites and delights her community, featured it. The post is a celebration of the joyful, funny side of fiber arts… yes, you can make serious heirloom lace shawls, AND you can make a hat that looks like a chicken. Both are valid expressions of craftsmanship. The crochet community loves both ends of the spectrum!

Is the Crochet Chicken Hat appropriate as a gift?

For exactly the right person, it’s the PERFECT gift. The person who would appreciate a crocheted chicken hat knows who they are. They’ve been known to wear silly hats unironically, they have a great sense of humor about fashion, or they’re the kind of person who will immediately put it on and wear it to the grocery store just to see people’s reactions. This is the gift that makes someone say “I can’t believe you made this for me” with actual joy and wear it with genuine delight. For that person… there is no better gift.