I wanted to make this mask for my 3-year-old nephew, who loves Batman. I looked at two Batman crocheted mask patterns on Ravelry and decided I preferred this one to the other. However, neither pattern really provides sizing nor gauge (a pet peeve of mine!), so it will take a little bit of guesswork and sizing to make sure it fits your kid, depending on their size and age. For the record, with a size “I” crochet hook, I got a circumference of about 18.5” per 56 stitches.

For the most part, I liked the pattern - easy to follow and pretty well constructed, good instructions. The eye holes could be slightly better constructed - they could be better-shaped, and I think maybe 3 sts in between the eye holes might look better than 2 - but it is, after all, a kids’ play hat, so no need to be super picky about fine details. :) I did stop the pattern at Round 21 instead of Round 22, because it was long enough for my subject at that point. Also, since it’s worked in HDC instead of SC, it works up very quickly.

As for the ears, I liked the idea that the other mask pattern I mentioned uses - the Kids Batman Mask found here, which has a front and a back to each ear, with plastic needlepoint canvas in the middle to keep the ears stiff. So I used that pattern for the ears instead. Although I wasn’t happy with the way the decreases on that other pattern made the edges of the ears look ragged, so in the end I just made up my own ear pattern based on it. I did not make the ears long enough to extend all the way down to the bottom of the hat, which it appears that both of these patterns do, although they don’t explicitly state that, which is a bit confusing (I kept wondering why the ears extended so long). My ears were about a total of 18-19 rows tall in SC (5.5” tall after the SC border around the edge of the ear to smooth it out was completed), and I sewed them on starting at the 5th row/round from the bottom, with the tips of the ears extending about 1.5” above the top of the hat. The ears may be just a bit tall, but I figure if you’re going to do a Batman mask, might as well make it all about the ears!

This pattern (the main one I used for the hat, that is) also gives MUCH better instructions as to how to place the ears than the other one does. The other one simply said something like “sew ears to sides of hat.”

And that’s it! Pretty simple and quick pattern (it only took me a month to finish because I was working on another main project simultaneously; this was my “side” project). The kid seems very excited about it, I hope he will love it!

I did have to try it on in order to make sure the ears were straight, and at a good height. I’m surprised it actually fits me, more or less. I hope I didn’t stretch it out too much! At least now I know that the 3-year-old recipient will be able to wear it for a few years. Based on my fittings, I expect he’ll outgrow the eye holes before he outgrows the hat.

One note about the Big Twist yarn: this is the first time I’ve used this “value” yarn, and overall, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a much softer, better fiber than America’s standard craft yarn, Red Heart Super Saver. They don’t have as wide a color selection, of course, but maybe it will expand if the yarn catches on. It’s not a fancy or supersoft yarn, by any means, put perfectly adequate for quick crafts, and not as scratchy on a kid’s head as Red Heart would be. I think it might be better suited to knitting than to crocheting, as it seems to untwist easily (this may be an S-twist vs. Z-twist issue), but I have yet to test that hypothesis.