Hooked on Crochet

Patterns Used - Hat :: Mittens

Hi, all!
Sorry about the title. I couldn't resist!

I've been crocheting up a storm lately. My daughter, Zara, is a very busy girl, so I spend a ton of time in waiting rooms. There's usually too much going on for me to read, I get bored with games after a while, so I started crocheting.

For Zara's hat above, I stuck to the pattern. I did tweak the mittens quite a bit. I left off the cuffs, started with a chain ring, and didn't decrease the thumbs. Instead I just sewed the tops of the thumbs. Zara wanted a Z on her hat. I tried to crochet one, but as you can see below, it ended up being larger than the hat itself. That was my first lesson on scale. I ended up chaining 24 or so stitches and then tacking them down in a Z shape.

Z Pattern (video)

You may recognize the yarn below from the first scarf I ever made Zara. To be honest, she hated it, but she was very polite about it. She just said, "I prefer long scarves." So, I disassembled the old scarf and made her a new one. She's much happier now.

My husband didn't want to be left out. He requested a couple of hats and a scarf. I plan on adding more to the scarf to make it longer. I'm still learning to figure out how much yarn a project will need. (Hint: Always buy more than you think you'll need.)

Hat Pattern

 I stuck to the hat pattern with a few additional increases just for comfort.

Hat Pattern

And now we're down to something I made for myself. I posted previously about how I wanted a slouchy beanie to match my scarf I made last spring. The first attempt was horrible. Well, sort of horrible. It turned into a cute doll purse. The second attempt worked out fine. I didn't use a pattern. I made the headband using ten double stitches per row and kept going until it fit my head. I then sewed the edges together and single stitched in a spiral until it got as big as I wanted. I sewed the hole together to finish.

I have one more project that I've finished, but that's getting a post all to itself. It's adorable. No hints, though.

If you have any handy tips or tricks, leave them in the comments below. I definitely have a lot to learn.

Love,