Shell Stitch Hat - 1979

This week's hat comes from the October 1979 issue of Workbasket Magazine. It is one of five crochet patterns in the issue. The others are a cardigan, a hair-pin lace afghan, a hexagon pan holder and a disco bag.
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Sidebar: I saw the disco bag listed in the contents and thought, "Interesting! What makes it a disco bag? Is it sparkly or colorful?".  It is none of these things unless you decide to make it that way. It's just a regular flap purse made out of regular chenille yarn. I guess that would make it soft and fluffy but that doesn't seem very "disco". 

The Shell Stitch hat uses a size H hook and sport weight yarn. I used some leftover Master Knit Lucero in gray and Premier Yarns Everyday Baby in blue. Both are super soft yarns. 

There is a gauge given and I was close enough to it that I felt fine going on with the pattern. This is another pattern that's worked side to side and then sewn together and gathered at the top. This type of construction worked pretty well for the stripes. I was able to carry the yarn up the sides and hid it in the seam which meant fewer ends to sew in. Any ends I had left on the sides were used to make the seam the same color as the stripe.  
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The instructions were pretty simple and easy to follow. I didn't quite understand why there are fancy stripes that are then folded over so you can't see them. Why is there even a fold? Here is the finished hat, with it folded up and a side view without the fold.

I'm going to give this a 5 out of 5. It fits, the directions are clear and you have the option of wearing it folded up or a little slouchy.