January Hats

Welcome 2013 with all your crochet and craft possibilities!

In January, I found myself LESS motivated to crochet than I had been during the holidays!  70+ degree days (30 degrees above normal) left me totally unmotivated to crochet hats that were supposed to be for cold weather!  But hats had been ordered and people were waiting for them. So, I forced myself to pretend it was cold outside and crocheted the month away!

First, I made this cute shell stitch hat by Grow Creative.  The pattern can be found on her blog here.  I used Lion's Brand Homespun-Montana Sky.  Think it turned out really cute!  Added a wooden button to the center for contrast. 

Next, I worked on this LEGO Blockhead Man hat.  I bought the pattern for $4.50 from Craftsy here.  I used "I Love This Yarn" from Hobby Lobby. I really like the texture of the stitch used to make this hat.  I am not a fan of hats made in the round but this pattern was very easy to follow. I did have some problems when trying to attach the top part of the hat. Since the hat was made in rounds instead of rows, it was very difficult to get the added piece on top of the hat to come out in an exact circle. I ended up having to loosely stitch a circle of black yarn around the top.  I was then able to follow the circle for attaching the top to the LEGO hat. After crocheting the added piece I carefully removed the black stitching. 

An additional problem I had with the hat was that it ended up being too small. (This is a problem with any pattern that does not give a gauge for testing before beginning) I made the child/teen size for a 4th grade boy. My finished hat was too tight around and needed a few more rows for length.  

Finished, the hat measured 18 1/2 inches around and 7 1/2 inches from top to base. I am going to remake this hat again using a larger hook and make rounds 1-5 in rows(instead of rounds).  That way I will have a well defined circle to work from when attaching the top of the hat. I will probably add 3 more rows of yellow at the end as was well before changing to the base color. 

In spite of the quirks of working with a new pattern, I think it turned out really cute!  This one is for sale for $15 local pickup and $20 with shipping and handling.

Now.... back to crocheting!