I'll spare you the details of the saga. Suffice it to say, my poor, beloved, decrepit, hot pink, Dell laptop went belly-up a couple of weekends ago. The battery has been useless for about two years, but the power cord is now fried. (Thank you, Hurricane Sandy!) Ironically, she finally breathed her last breath maybe twelve hours after the new one shipped. The good news for me is that because it's just a power issue, if I choose, I can replace the battery and cord and have a backup.
The good news for you, my beautiful, highly intelligent readers, is that because I spent a few days without a computer I finally found the time to finish the beanie pattern I've been promising for about a year.
Before I post that, however, I need to tell you how awesome Newegg.com and UPS are. Between fast service and fast shipping, I had the new machine in five days. That, mind you, was over a weekend. And the price was fabulous. The new baby was on sale, so for what would have been the full price, I was able to get Office installed on it as well. You can bet I'll be checking Newegg whenever I need electronics in the future.
Okay, enough about my new toys, let's talk crochet! This has definitely been the most difficult pattern I've ever developed. I could not get it to work right no matter what I did. Then I finally figured it out. It wasn't so much the pattern but how I was going about it. Getting the right curve in a round pattern comprised mainly of single crochet is tough. It wants to flatten. So I flipped it over and treated it like piece of amigurumi. That's when it all came together. It's still not quite as domed as I would have liked, but once the wearer has the hat on, the curve is more pronounced.
Some of you will find it odd stitching a hat from the bottom up rather than the top down, but trust me on this. It gives you a better curve at the top. Still, all that work wasn't for naught. The "failed" attempts at making the hat showed me exactly what I need to do to make the handbag pattern I wanted to put together. THAT you'll just have to wait for. Heh. What can I say? I love to tease you.
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| Sample was crocheted using 100% cotton worsted weight Peaches and Cream (discontinued) and yielded a small/medium adult sized hat |
by Laurie Laliberte
Supplies needed:
about
4 oz. (180-190 yds.) worsted weight yarn
size
I-9 (5.5 mm) crochet hook for main
body
size
G-6 (4.0 mm) crochet hook for band
stitch
marker or scrap of yarn for marking end of rounds
yarn
needle or smaller size hook for weaving in ends
All instructions use American terminology and standard
abbreviations.
Special Stitches:
front post double
crochet (fpdc)—yo, insert hook behind post of stitch (from front to back to
front), yo, pull up loop, yo, pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook), yo, pull
through remaining 2 loops
back post double crochet
(bpdc)—yo, insert hook around post of stitch (from back to front to back), yo,
pull up loop, yo, pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook), yo, pull through
remaining 2 loops
single crochet decrease
(sc dec)—insert hook in next st, yo, pull up loop (2 loops on hook), insert
hook in next st, yo, pull up loop (3 loops on hook), yo, pull through all 3
loops (counts as 1 stitch)
Construction note:
The term join, as used
in this pattern means join with slip
stitch in first stitch of round.
You will notice that I
do not instruct you to join at the end of every round. I found it easier to work the body of the
pattern in continuous rounds. This
prevents having a visible seam up the back of your hat. If you choose to join at each round, begin the
next round with a ch1, even when that round begins with a dc.
If you join and ch1 at
each round, your ch1 does not count as your first stitch.
with smaller hook, ch 72, join w/sl st in 1st ch
being careful not to twist chain
Round 1: ch3 (counts as first
stitch), dc in 2nd ch from hook and in each each ch around, join (72
sts)
Round 2: ch2 (counts as first
st), [bpdc in next dc, fpdc in next dc], 35 times, bpdc in last dc, join (72
sts)
Round 3: ch 2 (counts as
first st), [bpdc in next bpdc, fpdc in next fpdc], 35 times, bpdc in last bpdc,
join (72 sts)
Round 4: repeat Round 3,
switch to larger hook
Round 5: ch1 (does not count
as first st), sc in each st around (72 sts)
Round 6: sc in back loops
only (blo) around (72 sts)
Round 7: repeat Round 6
Round 8: [sc in blo of next
st, dc in blo of next st] around (72 sts)
Round 9: [dc in blo of next
st, sc in blo of next st] around (72 sts)
Round 10: repeat
Round 8
Round 11: repeat
Round 9
Round 12: repeat
Round 8
Round 13: sc in
blo of each stitch around (72 sts)
Round 14: repeat
Round 13
Round 15: repeat
Round 13
Round 16: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in each of next 4 sts] 12 times (60 sts)
Round 17: sc in each
st around (60 sts)
Round 18: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in each of next 3 sts] 12 times (48 sts)
Round 19: sc in
each st around (48 sts)
Round 20: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in each of next 2 sts] 12 times (36 sts)
Round 21: sc in
each st around (36 sts)
Round 22: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in next st] 12 times (24 sts)
Round 23: sc in
each st around (24 sts)
Round 24: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in each of next 2 sts] 6 times (18 sts)
Round 25: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in next st] 6 times (12 sts)
Round 26: [sc dec
in next 2 sts] 6 times (6 sts)
Round 27: [sc dec
in next 2 sts] 3 times (3 sts)
At this point, you
should be able to draw a loop through the remaining stitches and close any gap
you may have. Finish off, weave in ends.
To increase size slightly:
Add to foundation chain
by twos until desired size is reached. Adjust decreases at end to compensate.
To increase size significantly:
Begin with 84 chains
instead of 72 (stitch count for Rounds 1-15 will be 84) and add the following
after Round 15
Round 15a: [sc dec
in next 2 sts, sc in each of next 5 sts] 12 times (72 sts)
Round 15b: sc in
each st around (72 sts)
Now proceed to Round 16
and continue pattern from there.
For links to all of my free patterns, click the link to the left.
To find out how to get a free pdf of this, or any of my other hat patterns, go here.
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| The Blog Collection Beanie as modeled by my adorable four-year-old niece |
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