I picked up some Bernat Baby Blanket yarn the other day and decided to make hats out of it. I know it's not the normal yarn for hats, particularly this colorway (Pitter Patter), but it is very soft and I thought it might be a nice, comfy covering for the head. The yarn comes in several nice colors, but the store I was at did not have any solid colors, only a few of the variegated ones. One hat is quite small, fitting me snugly. The other is just slightly larger and fit me perfectly. Both are for small heads. There is not a lot of give once it's made up.
For the larger hat I used an L hook and the rounds are 12, 24, 36, 48, then work even. It's a little funny because the yarn label suggested a K hook. That is what I used for the first hat. It is not the yarn nor hook's fault that it was snug. I could have done an additional round. But I found it worked up too tightly with the K and went larger for the second one. I had a few yards (maybe 7 or 8) left from the skein. For the yarn I used the other day, I found the hook suggested was too large and went down several hook sizes. I think it was from a J to a G. So when you crochet, the hook you choose to use does not have to be the suggested hook. It depends on many things - your tension, what you want your finished work to look like, how tight a weave you want, how stiff your project needs to be for its purpose... and so on. Play with it. The other day, hubby picked up some Bernat Softee Baby yarn in pink and I was able to make 3 hats from the skein with a little leftover. I just played with the patterns with no particular design in mind when I started out. The first hat is 12 stitches, then 24, 36, 48, 48, 60, 60, (72 x 6), round of (dc, dc, fpdc), round of (sc, sc, fphdc), dc, dc, sc (18 total rounds). This one fit me best.
The next one is 12, 24, 36, 48, 48. 60. 60. 72, 72, 84 x 5,5 rounds of sc, one round of (sc, ch 2, 2 dc, sk 2). This one fit me, but loosely.
The next one is 12, 24, 36, 48, 48. 60. 60. 72, 72, 84 x 6, round of (dc, dc, fpdc), round of (sc, sc, fphdc), round of sc. This one also fit me, but loosely.
I used a G hook to make all the hats. Happy crocheting! Sandie
I was asked how many Doctor Who scarves I have made. Well, I didn't have an answer unless you count "a lot". LOL So I decided to try and get a count. I have a Weebly site called Gallifreyan Crochetin' which concentrates on Doctor Who stuff, particularly the scarves. I counted off what I had on there and this is what I came up with. I know that there are some I've made for family and some sold, but I think there should be pics of them there too. 5 Season 12 scarves, 2 Season 13 scarves, 6 Season 14 scarves (though one was super reduced), 1 Season 16/17, 2 Season 18 (though one was reduced), and 1 SHADA for a total of 17 scarves. S12 DK (fringed) approx 11' 6 1/2" 138 1/2" (11.5') S12 DK (fringed) approx 11' 6 1/2" 138 1/2" (11.5') S12 DC DK (fringed) 10" x 146" (12' 2") S12 DK (fringed) 8" x 156" (13') S12 (without fringe) worsted 7" x 134" (11' 2") S13 (fringed) worsted 6" x 98" (8' 2") S13 (without fringe) worsted 7 1/2" x 95" (7' 11") S14 DC DK (fringed) 8 1/2" x 114" (9.5') S14 (without fringe) worsted 10 1/2" x 106" (8' 10") S14 (without fringe) worsted 10 1/2" x 83" (6' 11") S14 (without fringe) worsted 6" x 111" (9' 3") S14 (without fringe) worsted 6" x 109" (9' 1") super reduced DK S14 (without fringe) 3" x 52" (4' 4") S16-17 DK (without fringe) 8" x 216" (18') S18 (without fringe) worsted (Red Heart Soft) 7" x 169" (14' 1") S18 shortened Lion Brand Suede 10" x 72" (6') SHADA (without fringe) worsted 9" x 228" (19') You will notice that scarves from the same season are not the same size except for the 2 I made at the same time. Part of this is because of my own tension when I work. Part is the yarn and hook used. Part is the pattern I used at the time. Part might even be the length of the fringe on the scarf. Why make more scarves once I've got one? Well, mostly because I am a crazy person, and in good company with bunches of other crazy people doing the same thing! LOL Also, as time goes, more screen accurate colors are found and, of course, I have to make another one. sometimes yarn manufacturers discontinue yarns. On occasion someone is able to view the actual scarf and comes back with additional info. Of course, MY scarves can never be screen accurate because they are crocheted and the original was knitted. But they are as close in color as I can get. I also make mine thinner than the originals because this is Louisiana and I wear them sometimes. I used to never put fringe on my scarves because I don't personally like fringe and if you wash it, they get all funny looking. But you know, everyone else adds it so I jumped on the bandwagon and joined the crowd and have started adding it. I have not gone back and added any to the first ones I made because the yarn wouldn't match. With all the experience of making multiple scarves, I now have my favorite colors (which will probably change over time as some are discontinued by manufacturers or new colors come to light). I also have my own crochet patterns, based on patterns at doctorwhoscarf.com and adapted for crochet with permission. I know you are itching to know what those are. I have to first say that the yarns I most like is purchased overseas from a UK company called Deramores. There are some pretty good alternate matches slowly coming to light, most notably Knit Picks Brava Sport yarns. I find the Knit Picks just slightly thicker than the Stylecraft so I try to use mostly one or the other if I have those yarns in a good color. Here are the yarns listed at doctorwhoscarf.com that I like with an alternate listed for if the first isn't available.
Purple - Knit Picks Brava Sport Currant, alternate Stylecraft Special DK BurgundyCamel - Knit Picks Brava Sport Almond, alternate Stylecraft Special DK CamelMustard - Stylecraft Special DK Gold, Sirdar Hayfield Bonus DK PumpkinRust - Knit Picks Brava Sport Paprika, alternate Stylecraft Special DK CopperGrey - Stylecraft Special DK Graphite, (I have used Knit Picks Brave Sport Cobblestone Heather when I didn't have the graphite but it's a little thicker and just slightly lighter because of the heathering)Greenish Brown - Sirdar Hayfield Bonus DK Moss Green, alternate Stylecraft Special DK KhakiBronze - Knit Picks Brava Sport Brindle, alternate King Cole Big Value DK Taupe.
The color I struggle with most is purple. Some use the burgundy reddish purple and others use the blue or violet purple. I find the reddish purple goes best with the other colors. If you look at pictures from the show the color changes depending on lighting, something looking more blue and sometimes more red. Hardest to find has been a good mustard. I have still not made a Season 15 of the original scarves. I also haven't made an Osgood scarf nor any of the other character scarves, like the Rose Tyler one, the Romana scarf (when both the Doctor and Romana wore scarves), and the Hartnell scarf and whatever other ones have come up in the Stitches group at Facebook. :-) Happy crocheting! Sandie
I was asked to make a few chemo hats for a local lady and of course happily agreed. Here are two I've made so far. The first pattern is from The Gingerbread Lady. It is her big button beret without a button. Though it is not a difficult pattern, the result using the variegated yarn is just beautiful. Of course, that's just my opinion. Here is a hat I made years ago using this same pattern. It is one of my favorites and it was hard to give up.
Here is the hat I made over the past couple days. My model took the day off. LOL The bottom brim is folded up in the picture. The yarn is the lovely Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable. The wrapper says this is worsted yarn and to use a J hook. IMHO that is just totally ridiculous. This is at the most a sport yarn and I would even go down to a #2. I used a G hook but could easily have used an F. I've been having this skein a while and it was also waiting for a special project. This was it. I think it is the Parrot colorway. I can't lay my hands on the wrapper right now. I worked the rounds of the pattern until there were 11 dc between the decreases. This made it close to 12" . Then I worked the decreases until it fit my head snugly. Now I have a small head. If it is too small for the recipient, I think I can undo the work even rows and last decrease to make it wider though I might have to work fewer rounds as there is only a tiny ball of yarn left. The skein is 270 yards (3.5 ozs, 100g).
The other one is made with another skein I picked up at Michael's one day and had put aside for something special. It is Isaac Mizrahi Carlyle (super bulky) in colorway Algonquin. A flower may be added to it. I'm not sure what color would bring this out best. The yarn is pretty soft but the design of it is different. There are what I would call clumps every now and then. These are hard to get through the stitch when you're trying to sew the tails in. This is not an error in the yarn. It is throughout. I didn't realize it when I started out so hopefully the bumps won't cause a problem when worn on a head with no hair.
I used a K hook which seems to work fine. The recommended hook is M. I worked the rounds in double crochet as follows: 12, 24, 36, 48, 54, then work even. I worked even for 7 rounds, then added 3 rounds in single crochet. So it's a total of 12 rounds dc and 3 rounds sc. I hope to get more soft yarn and make a few more so there is some variety and also figuring at least one would fit the head comfortably. Happy crocheting! Sandie
