New Hats

Hey Mom, are you sitting down? Because I don't want you to faint or anything, but look...I'm posting a second time in one day. :)


We have been hard at work getting boxes unpacked and getting our new home organized. One thing that I have found in unpacking is a rather large stash of yarn, so I've started crocheting again. It's not that I ever really stopped, but I just wasn't hard at work on anything in particular. Other then the prayer shawl that I am making for the group at my in-laws church. Of course, I haven't exactly been working HARD on that since I usually only get a row or two done at a time. So it's taking a very long time to finish.

ANYWAY...in regard to getting serious about crocheting, I specifically wanted to make a hat for Jacob. You see, Jacob really likes hats. He wears his sister's hats all the time. And his Daddy doesn't like that. You see, Daddy thinks that boys should NEVER wear frilly girly hats, even to play a little. And ESPECIALLY not when the boy's mommy takes pictures that could be used for future blackmail...and sometimes posts them on Facebook.

SO I started looking at hat patterns. And I found LOTS of girl patterns, but not a lot of boy patterns, at least not the free patterns. I also found a lot of adult patterns, and a much smaller number of children's patterns. So I have been working on adapting things. I started out making this hat in the same yarn with which I made a scarf for Samantha last year. It was the only yarn I could find that day that was the right weight. I was trying to see how the pattern worked up and then would possibly make one for Jacob with a different yarn. It was supposed to be a beanie type hat. But when I followed the pattern directions, that is NOT AT ALL how it turned out. So I started undoing it. When I got the hat about halfway undone, I decided not to undo the whole thing but to see if I could change the bottom half enough to make it fit Samantha. SO I tried...and I wound up with a cross between a beret and a slouch hat. Samantha likes it, so we kept it as is.


But I knew that pattern wouldn't work for Jacob's hat. So I continued my quest for the right pattern. Next I tried this one, once again in the same yarn as Samantha's scarf. It's a no brainer, really. I have several skeins of this yarn and it is a somewhat bulky yarn which means that it works up quickly, so it is my test yarn right now. And I really do like the hat. Once again, so does Samantha. So she gets to keep this one, too. It is a little big, but I figure I can either line it to help make it fit a little better, or I can use some elastic thread in the edge.



I wasn't sure about the pattern for Jacob, though. And once I started using the yarn for his hat, I quickly realized that the pattern is nearly impossible to work with his yarn anyway. And even if I did manage to get it worked correctly, the pattern is practically not there because of the way is yarn works up. So that was a no go for him, too.

So then I moved to a very simple pattern that uses worsted weight yarn. I made it with the worsted weight yarn, and it turned out pretty small, in fact, it just barely fit Jacob. So I used a slightly larger hook and a the bulkier yarn. I also modified the pattern a bit and it turned out just right. Jacob loves the hat. But when I tried to take his picture, he wouldn't wear it any longer. This was the best we could get.
So Samantha modeled it for us instead. Brent thinks the hat is too fuzzy, but guesses he can live with it. Now the final question...there's enough yarn left to make a matching scarf, should I make one for my boy? Seriously...I want your opinion. Because when I asked Brent about it, he replied, "That's really yuppie."

And then, just because I saw this cute pattern (which I also ended up having to modify and it still turned out a little big) I made this cute little number for Samantha.

I am really enjoying crocheting hats, it's something I can actually get done because they are quick to finish. Now who else wants one? :)