90 Minutes to Princess Leia buns

Commentary at the end.

Supplies
6mm/J hook
brown yarn, worsted weight
fiber fill
needle

Headband as base--30 min
Make foundation chain of 10 (or a multiple of 3 ch plus an extra 1 ch)

FOUNDATION ROW: 4 ch (counts as 1 dc and 1 ch), *skip 2 ch, (1 dc, 1 ch, 1 dc) all into next ch; repeat from * to end

ROW 1: 4 ch (counts as 1 dc and 1 ch), 1 dc into ch sp between first 2 dc, *(1 dc, 1 ch, 1 dc) into ch sp between next 2 dc; rep from * to end.

Repeat until length is ~1.5" or ~4cm less than circumference of the head.

sc ends together to form a band. Tie off and leave a 10"/25cm tail.

Bun--30 min each
Each bun is formed by making a tube, which is filled with fiber fill to make a snake, which is then wound to make a bun.

Start with 4 foundation single crochet, 1ch

sc in a circle down one side of the foundation single crochet, 1 sc in the end, sc down the other side of the foundation single crochets (should be 9 stitches).

Continue in a spiral with sc into every stitch which will form a tube. Every 2"/5cm add some fiber fill loosely. Continue until snake forms bun of desired size.  My snakes were 10"/25cm long.

Snake tails are formed by adding a decreases: 2 sc together, every 4 sts until the point comes together. Tie off and leave 10"/25cm tail.

Putting it together
Roll snake into a bun with the tail on the outside. Using a yarn needle and the extra yarn at the end of each tail, sew the tail down. Pass the needle and yarn through the fiber fill to the inside of the roll. Run the needle in and out anchoring the inner rolls of the snake to one another. Tie off and trim excess. Repeat with other snake.  

Lay the band seam out (not against the head), and place one bun over seam. Using the left over yarn from tying off the band, anchor the bun to the band in 3-4 places that are not all in a straightline.

Repeat with other bun using a 12-14"/30-35cm piece of yarn. Done.

COMMENTARY--generalization and optimizations
So this project needed buns and something to attach the buns to it. The buns get kind of big and heavy. So any kind of headband would work, ie a simple band made of sc or dc rows. But I recommend a width of 4"/10cm. I also recommend that it be fairly snug which is why I recommend measuring the head and subtracting length to account for the stretch in the yarn. Even more stable would be a beanie and there are many patterns available for that.

Because I was aiming for speed I used a large hook. The tradeoff is that the fiber fill peaks through the holes in the buns. A smaller hook would produce a tighter weave that would keep the fiber fill in better.

All in all a fun simple project for a last minute Halloween addition.