I was recently sent a copy of the first Wool and the Gang book called Raffia Crochet. Unsurprisingly it’s full of raffia crochet projects!

If you’ve seen any of their stuff before, you’ll know just how stylish their stuff is. Maybe it’s all branding and great photography but I’m always a sucker for their kits!

I’ve bought their raffia before and made a little bag last summer (check it out here!).

The book contains 10 different raffia projects from hats and bags to placemats. They’ve all got that wonderful boho vibe that works so well for summer.

I got one spool of their Ra Ra Raffia yarn and a 4.5mm crochet hook to start on a project and I chose to make the sun hat!

I’ve always wanted a floppy sunhat but it’s probably not really a look I can pull off but I thought I’d give it a whirl anyway! If nothing else, I could always undo it if I really didn’t like it!

I found the crochet instructions quite simple to follow. Each pattern has a list of step by step instructions and there’s a glossary of basic stitches at the back of the book.

The hat is pretty straightforward, requiring a magic circle start and crocheting in the round using single crochet and half double crochet stitches.

Stupidly I didn’t bother checking the tension of my stitches before I got started and I was almost about to start the brim when I realised that it was HUGE!!!

After checking it, I realised my tension was way off. I ended up unravelling the hat partway and skipping the last increase of stitches rather than try to unravel the whole thing and crochet it tighter. I’m not very good at changing my tension whilst crocheting so I figured this would be an easier fix! (If I’d had them to hand, I would’ve changed to a smaller crochet boo instead!)

Because I was crocheting looser than the recommended I also reduced the number of rows for the depth of the hat too. Luckily with crochet, you can try it on as you go to make sure it fits!

After finishing it up the brim ends up really wobbly. They do warn you about this in the book – it’s to do with the number of increased in the brim. I set the brim (as instructed) by spraying lightly with water and stacking a ton of books over the edges to make it lie flat. By the next morning my hat was dry and flat!

Full disclosure – I was sent the new raffia crochet book and a spool of raffia yarn for free but with no obligation to review, I just think it’s quite a nifty book!