more hats

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

chemo hats

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