I’ve made a follow-up tutorial, and was going to make it a post, but there are so very many pictures that I decided it needed it’s own page. So, click here, or scroll right to the top of this page and click on “hat”. Again, there are a LOT of pictures, so it might take some time to load.

Here’s a sample pic:

Please, please, please give me any feedback you can if you try out this tutorial. It was somewhat complicated to put together and my eyes are too blurry now to see if I missed something or messed up. I haven’t figured out how to do comments on the special pages, so feel free to comment here if you see any problems, or comment on any post here, or send me an e-mail if you have the address. Thank you so much!

Why? In short:

- they have stolen money out of my bank account (by doing something they *specifically* claimed was impossible) then wouldn’t give it back until I involved my bank

- they’ve cut off my phone service for not paying *someone else’s* bill, and even after it was proven that was the case they still wouldn’t reconnect it, and still wouldn’t even after we proved that it was, in fact, their fault that it was possible at all

- they’ve sold me a service that didn’t exist (which lead to me having to pay the cable company an extra hookup charge since they had to come to my house twice)

- and most recently they failed to fix a connection problem. For two weeks. They claim to have made 6 appointments for techs to check out the problem, but we only saw 2. Each of those techs “fixed” the problem, only to have service go back down within 24 hours. (They also both complained bitterly about working for Bell!)

So, what’s a gal to do during this internet outage? (Did I mention that the internet wasn’t working at work either because of a computer virus? *yanks out hair*) Well, I certainly didn’t plan any part of my wedding! (Whose idea was it to keep our notes about it in a Google document? Oh wait, that was me…)

I crocheted, naturally! I also loom-knit.

You all remember Mom’s sorority’s charity thing with the kids hats and scarves right?

Check it!

The plan is to fill a bin with these. The current count is 23 complete sets (I took this picture before finishing a few of them… all of those hats in front of the pile have matching scarves now, plus there is another set not pictured… and a blue hat I still need to make a matching scarf for…)

I also made quite a few dishcloths. And a crochet-on-the-double hat using Bernat Soft Boucle (that still needs sewing up), and blew through a few more balls of red on the Ladybug blanket. I’m woefully behind on motifs, but expect to see a rush of those soon, as I’m in another motif swap. ^_^

A possible conclusion from all of this might be that having no internet access can be really good for my crafting! Another conclusion might be that having no internet had the potential to drive me so crazy that I needed that many projects to distract myself with just to get through it…

*eye twitch*

Black side out:

Rainbow side out:

Level of difficulty: if you already know how to do crochet-on-the-double, this is really really easy. If you don’t, but you are comfortable with the Tunisian Simple Stitch, then you’ll find this pattern somewhat easy once you get going on it. If you don’t know either of those techniques, I recommend learning them on something easier (perhaps a scarf?) before attempting this. ^_^

Yarn: Bernat Satin, uses the equivalent of 1 ball for each side of hat; for mine I used 1 ball of black and small amounts of 8 colours.

Hook: 6mm double-ended hook

This pattern is for crochet-on-the-double, using the Tunisian Simple Stitch. Each row has two parts, A and B, in A you lift loops onto the hook, in B you [b]turn[/b] and work them off

MC = main colour
CC = contrasting colour

Pattern:
ch 50 in MC

Row 1A – lift up one loop in 2nd ch from hook, and in each subsequent ch (50 loops on hook, including starting loop)
Row 1B – turn, pull a loop of CC through first loop of MC. *pull a loop of CC through two loops* repeat until 1 loop of CC remains on hook.

Row 2A – loop on hook counts as first loop, insert hook from right to left through vertical bar of the second stitch from the hook on the previous row, pull up a loop of CC. Do this for every subsequent stitch (50 loops on hook)

Row 2B – turn, pull a loop of MC through the first loop on hook. *pull a loop of MC through two loops* repeat until 1 loop of MC remains.

Row 3A – pull up a loop in the second vertical bar from the hook, and continue to pull up loops until there are 2 vertical bars left (48 loops on hook)

Row 3B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 4A – work loops on in CC (48 loops on hook)

Row 4B – turn, work loops off in MC

Row 5A – work loops on in MC until there are two vertical bars left (46 loops on hook)

Row 5B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 6A – work loops on in CC (46 loops on hook)

Row 6B – turn, work loops off in MC

Row 7A – work loops on in MC until there are two vertical bars left (44 loops on hook)

Row 7B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 8A – work loops on in CC (46 loops on hook)

Row 8B – turn, work loops off in MC

Row 9A – work loops on in MC until there are two vertical bars left (42 loops on hook)

Row 9B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 10A – work loops on in CC (42 loops on hook)

Row 10B – turn, work loops off in MC

Row 11A – work loops on in MC until there are two vertical bars left (40 loops on hook)

Row 11B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 12A – work loops on in CC (40 loops on hook)

Row 12B – turn, work loops off in MC

Row 13A – work loops on in MC, 40 loops from previous row, plus the 2 missed vertical bars from each previous row (50 loops on hook)

Row 13B – turn, work loops off in CC

Row 14A – work loops on in CC (50 loops on hook)

Row 14B – turn, work loops off in MC

One wedge made!

Repeat from 3A to 14B until you have 8 wedges

To finish, slip stitch to bind off both colours by *inserting the hook through the next vertical bar, pull a loop through it and the loop on the hook* until you reach the end. Do the MC first, then the CC. Leave LONG tails.

Use the CC tail to sew the last row made to the first row (try to join it with the CC of the first row if you can). Use the MC tail to weave in and out of the stitches at the top of the hat, pull tightly like a drawstring until the hole at the top is closed. Secure with a knot, then use the rest of that tail to sew the seam down on the MC side of the hat.

Weave in all ends.

To alter this pattern to fit better, or use a different yarn, etc. :

Make a swatch (I recommend making a scarf-sized swatch ;)) to determine how many stitches and rows you get per inch/cm. Measure your head, and do some math. ^_^

You can easily start with fewer stitches to make a shorter hat, do more “stop two stitches short of the end” rows to make the rounded-top part bigger, and change the number of wedges you do to fit a smaller or larger circumference.

To easily keep track while making this hat, I made sure that my “miss the last two stitches” rows always happened with the black yarn (MC in the pattern), and the CC rows were just repeating its previous row. It’ll make sense when you’re doing it. ^_^

If you need any help with this pattern, feel free to ask! If you spot any errors, let me know so that I can fix them. ^_^

And what do you think of the new blog layout? I’m still tinkering with it; let me know if you find anything that doesn’t work!

The other problem, which I suspect affects all types of blog is: computers suck sometimes. :P

I can’t do a whole lot about that last problem, but take a look at these not-Christmas-presents I made using crochet-on-the-double.

A pink and purple hat for Maddie:

Purple side, pink side:

One wedge shape (hat consists of 8)

And a matching scarf:

This yellow one is *slightly* bigger and is for Katie:

Side:

Flat dark yellow, flat light yellow:

The folks on Craftster seem to think these are pretty good (I’m glad I’m not the only one!), so why not give these as Christmas gifts? Three reasons:

1. I’m not entirely certain they’ll fit, as I’m just figuring out the pattern… and giving items made for testing a pattern you’re writing seems somewhat unthoughtful.

2. I already made them each something else.

3. If they were gifts I wouldn’t let myself blog about them. :P

Come January I’ll be looking for more test subjects, including adults, so stay tuned!

I’m on a hat-and-scarf-making kick, so it was time to dive into the stash. I’ll tell you more about the actual hats and scarves in another post, but first, let me show you what I found while sorting the stash.

This is my Patons Melody stash, which makes up most of the yarn I’m using to make hats and scarves.

A mixed bin:

Another mixed bin:

I don’t think any of us are surprised about how much yarn this is, I mean, you saw the picture of the car!

Mom and I started out buying this yarn at Michaels, one ball each at a time, using the weekly 40% coupons, sometimes roping Dad and other unsuspecting loved ones into our plan.

Then Herrschners had a sale. I had a coupon for free shipping, and this yarn was on for an amazing price… including tax it worked out to $1.52 per ball (regular price was about $5 +tax per ball at the time, if I remember correctly).

How could we resist, really?

So Mom got some, and I got some (and I convinced some friends they should get some, too), all in one big order.

Anyhow, while sorting the stash, I noticed that I had a lot of black Melody. Two bags of 10, in fact:

(Look at that, they aren’t even opened!)

I think we’ve officially crossed into, “Boy, that’s a LOT of yarn” territory.

What’s that? What about the yarn that didn’t fit in the car? Why, yes, we do have a storage locker here, what’s your point?

Oh, ok, let’s go look. I mean, I did bring the last of the yarn home this past weekend…

Those purple bins? Er… you don’t want to look in those; it’s really not that interesting…

Ok, so there’s a whole bin of black… that’s not so bad… right?

The bin under it? *tugging nervously at my collar*

It’s not even in focus! That doesn’t prove anything.

…

Hey, take a look at my beautiful view!

These blankets are going to charity:

(I should get a better picture of that purple one made at the show before I send it off…)

I’m going to make these three bigger and give them as Christmas gifts:

These are Christmas presents, and I’m keeping them as is:

And this one is MINE:

My current main project is a gift for someone who reads this blog, and I really don’t want to give the surprise away if I can help it, so pictures and updates will be made on Ravelry (where you need an account to see it). Don’t worry, once the Big Day has come and gone, I’ll post all of the gory details. ^_^

Now that BOB is over, I find myself with my own crafting time again, so I’m waffling around trying to decide what to do. I’ve joined a couple of swaps, I still need to make the June square in the CAL, and I’ve been itching to just make my way through my growing collection of motif books and make at least one of everything.

Of course, there’s still Christmas coming, and various birthdays left to think about. I’ve been hoping that Bernat Satin would go on sale for the last several months, but I haven’t seen it. If you do, could you please let me know? I’m planning on buying a LOT of it, not only because I’ll need it for some gifts, but also because it’s my go-to yarn for worsted weight acrylic and I’m starting to run low. It’s soft, works up well, and the colours are pretty nice.

Anticipated projects: at least one more Snowflake afghan, maybe the Hawaiian Flower afghan, more 3-way Tunisian, lots of hats and scarves, some geeky afghans, and of course, Dad’s Christmas present.

My work situation has changed and I suddenly find myself with a good chunk of crochet time. That time can only be spent working on a pattern I know really well, and that doesn’t have any tricky colour changes. The project I’ve been working on lately has recently become too large to do while I do my job, so I need a replacement project. For now, I’m prepping some scarves (doing the base chain and first row at home on several), and I’m thinking of doing some granny squares. Any thoughts on what else might work? Basically, anything I don’t have to look at too much, that can easily be done a couple of stitches at a time.

Finally, check out this Spiral Granny Square I made: click here.

(There wasn’t a lot of sun today, so this indoor picture will have to do. The actual colour is a sunny yellow.)

Next, I finished off the yellow hat from the other day. Here it is posed by my lovely assistant, Roopurt:

Is it just me, or have I been making a lot of the same things lately?

I was eying the stash yesterday. I was thinking that I should probably make some hats and scarves, but wanted to try something new. What would two strands of Bernat Soft Boucle look like, I wondered.

So I made these:

And these:

(Don’t adjust your monitor, they’re out of focus in person, too.)

I go through phases of charity crafting, and I think the reason for this is because I don’t have any real goals for it. I had been using the “go until the yarn runs out” method, but that’s clearly not going to cut it anymore. So, I came up with a point system. One point each for hats and scarves, and three points per baby blanket. My goal for February is 25 points. Here is a screen shot of the spreadsheet I made:

(of *course* I invented this entire system just so that I could make a colourful spreadsheet!)

On a related note, I discovered today that my obsessive need to buy yarn (especially when it’s on sale) appears to be genetic. I e-mailed my Mom last night to tell her about how well the Soft Boucle was working out and she e-mailed back today saying she’d gone out this morning and bought two more skeins of it, with plans to buy even more (she has coupons!) and as an aside asked if I needed any more baby yarn for the blankets. This explains my yarn stash a bit, I think!

I was working on this at work today:

One of my co-workers asked what I was making, and when I told him it was a hat, he said that I’m always making hats and should make something different for a change. (Maybe I’ll bring in a baby blanket to work on tomorrow.)

That same co-worker tipped me off to this article from The Walrus magazine about CAPTCHAs. It’s a fairly interesting article, I think, but what really got me excited appears in the seventh paragraph.

I’ll wait while you go read it.

Surely you see the error: I CROCHET!!! *shakes a fist*

I’ll forgive them this time, though. The crocheting I was doing while scanning was crochet-on-the-double, and that can look a lot like knitting to the muggles.

The worst part about this whole ordeal is that I’ve been too sick to craft! Can you even imagine?

So, today I present you with crafts I’ve made in the past that have been keeping me warm (especially during that blackout we just had!)

First, the slippers. I made these to wear at work. I just hate wearing shoes there, but walking around in my socks has given me funny looks and can be quite disastrous when they mop the floor!

These are the first slippers I’d ever made:

I got the pattern for these from a friend of mine. Basically, you pick a fuzzy yarn (so as to hide what you’re doing), and start working in the round. Make some increases until the circle is big enough to go around your foot, then do one stitch per one stitch to form a tube. Sometimes I find I need to make some decreases while making the tube… just keep measuring it against your foot as you go. When you get near your ankle it’s time to stop making a tube and start making a u-shape. Keep going back and forth in the u-shape until you reach your heel. I find it very useful to pull the slipper tight every time I measure it against my foot… they seem to last longer that way. When it’s the right size, cut the yarn leaving a really long tail, finish off, then use the tail to sew the two sides of the u-shape together to form the back of the slipper.

Repeat for other foot.

It’s really quite easy. Using the fuzzy yarn really hides any fudging you have to do with increases and decreases. Oh! I also find it best to start with a circle made of sc, then do dc for the rest.

Here are the last pair I made for myself:

I used Bernat Soft Bouclé for all of my slippers. The green ones are “Sage Stripes” (which doesn’t seem to exist anymore… that really sucks!).

From my feet we move on to my head. I made myself this hat:
It can’t talk to you right now.

And finally, I present to you a photo essay detailing the creation of the Giant Pink Mitten of Doom:
The Thumb:

Where I ran out of yarn:

Finished! It’s a bit on the big side:

Let’s start with my favourite: a donut pin cushion for Mom.

I had a lot of fun making this. I had to measure the pins to make sure they wouldn’t poke all the way through the donut (ow!), then endure questions about what I was making (picture the long brown tube I was crocheting in public), then had lots of fun making the icing (random stitches? Yeah, I can do that).

Mom loved it! (And now my cousin wants one too. It begins! <insert ominous music here>)

This is a hat and scarf set I made for my niece:

These were made on the red Knifty Knitter round loom using Patons Melody yarn. She liked it, I think, and she also seemed to like the set of Knifty Knitters and Paton yarn I got her as well. I’ve made her a hat and scarf set for the last few years for Christmas, but I guess now I’m going to have to think of something else for future years!

I’ll post pictures once she comes down from the traditional Christmas sugar high and starts making things on her looms. ^_^

And to round out this post on Christmas crafting, here is an example of the Santa ornaments I made both as gifts and to sell at the annual Christmas Bazaar at Mom’s church:

I got this pattern from Mary Maxim. It came as a kit (and doesn’t seem to be available anymore… a shame), but all it took was buying more eyes and pompoms. They’re fun to make, especially in the summer so as to freak out the muggles.