I was minding my own business working on the rainbow-inspired crochet hat with earflaps, when I (inadvertently) surfed the internet and found a crochet llama hat, that I couldn’t resist. So after I finished adding the earflaps to the rainbow-inspired hat:

I got out my hooks and went to my stash of the “seasonal” Capri yarn by Loops & Threads. It is a worsted weight cotton, nylon, and polyester blend that is perfect for making hats (among other things), and I found the perfect pink to make the hat I had found.
As I did with the rainbow-inspired hat, I started by doing a gauge swatch. I was not able to duplicate the designer’s gauge–I could get the correct height, or the correct width, but I could not get them both at the same time.
Lucky for me, Melissa, the designer, also has created this excellent “basic beanie” tutorial, and I was able to use that tutorial to duplicate the size of the hat despite not being able to duplicate her gauge.
In reasonably short order, I had the beanie and the earflaps done:

The tricking out pieces proved to be a little trickier, but after crocheting several ears that weren’t quite the right size, I finally managed to make two that were perfect enough, and I got the llama’s muzzle both crocheted and embroidered:

After taking a moment to enjoy and admire my progress, I decided to document the two hats for a toddler side-by-side:

There is a bit more work to be done on both hats, but not a lot, but when they are finished, I plan to make more hats for toddlers and babies while all of this information and knowledge is fresh in my head.
Very cute hats!
Those are very happy hats. They make a person smile.