Hat Crazy!!

I will openly admit I have gone a touch hat crazy! In all fairness, it's not my fault. Full blame is to be placed on the My Mountain Hat Design Contest. I first learned about the contest while searching for crochet blogs. Liz, from Crochet in Color had posted about it.

My first request was for Boston and Boston Style yarns...from these came this, my first entry. I blogged about it HERE. (There's more pics there too. I took another batch of pics in hopes of showing the pattern off more.)

I fell in love with the Boston yarns and decided to request the same yarn in different colors for my second entry. This time I requested, charcoal heather, brilliant white, black and purple. I had a fun pattern worked up and couldn't wait to try it out. This one is named "Payton" after the adorable young lady who fell in love with it when she was modeling the hats for me.

The Boston and Boston Style yarns were amazing to work with, I loved the texture of the yarn and the color choices...so many to choose from! I decided for my third entry I would request something in a super bulky weight. I thought they were 100g so needing about 225g  to finish the next pattern I had worked up I requested 3 skeins. This time I simply asked for three of the same color, any color, and waited anxiously to see what surprise would come in the mailbox. SURPRISE! I got Neon Pink Marl in the Bravo Big. DOUBLE SURPRISE! Each skein had 200g!  With 600g of Super Bulky yarn, there was enough to make my third, fourth and fifth entry!

Entry #3 is called "Duplicity" With an open back and drawstring this hat can be used much like my first entry, "Fusion" the difference is the opening is wider and "Duplicity" can double as a cowl. Using such a bulky yarn, this hat worked up in just about an hour and a half.

Entry #4 is called "Flirty" Since the hat needed to be made in all Schachenmayr yarn, and I didn't have time to request anymore, I took advantage of the extra I had. Using about 3 yards of yarn and separating the strands, I made the flower and gray and white band that weaves in and out around the hat.  They are the perfect color match!

Entry #5 is "Bobble" using a basic pattern, I added a bit of zing to this bobble style hat by using some of the Boston Black yarn I had left over from my second entry. 

Entry #6 "Belle"  is a petite hat made from bits of Boston and Boston Style yarns left over from entries one and two.

It's been a fun month of going hat crazy...I'd be lying if I said it was going to end here...I have already done up two non-contest hats. One replicating the "Flirty" hat in a less bulky yarn and a chemo hat for a friend of mine.  

My Mountain Hat

I did it! Here's my entry for the My Mountain Hat Contest. Crosses fingers tightly. =) The name "Fusion" is from a mix of fun and functionality. With fun colors and designs, "Fusion" sports an open ended hat perfect for pulling a ponytail through. A drawstring feature allows you to pull the back together or leave it open for a fuller fun effect.  The options of how to wear this hat are really up to the individual sporting it.  A quick flip of the bottom and drawstring pulled tight and you have a beanie with a festive spray of braids on top! 

Part of the contest was talking about the mountains you have overcome. I am somewhat a Jill of all Trades. I have tried many crafty type things and hobbies, never really sticking to any  of them. With crocheting it has been completely different.When I started a few years ago I was terrified of doing anything using a pattern. Straight, non counting projects for me.  In the last year I began  climbing that mountain one pattern at a time. Now I'm making my own patterns!  The My Mountain Hat Design Contest gave me that final motivation to take my crocheting to the next level! With my brand new blog and an insatiable desire to create with yarn, I'm over the top and quite happy to be here!

Basic Beanie Adult Hat

BASIC Beanie Hat (Adult Size)

Hook Size J
This hat works with Lion's Brand and Red Heart Yarn Worsted yarn. I used Lion's Brand for this hat. 

DC - Double Crochet
HDC - Half Double Crochet
Join - (Join the end of each round by slip stitching into the top of the first Double Crochet)



Start with Magic Ring, Chain 2
Row 1: 10 DC in Magic Ring, join. Chain 2
Row 2: 2 DC in each stitch and join. Chain 2.
Row 3: 2 DC in first stitch 1 DC in next stitch, Repeat until you have come back around and join at the top of your first DC. Chain 2.
Row 4:  2 DC in first stitch 1 DC in next 2 stitches, Repeat until you have come back around and join at the top of your first DC. Chain 2.
Row 5:  2 DC in first stitch 1 DC in next 3 stitches, Repeat until you have come back around and join at the top of your first DC. Chain 2.
Row 6:  2 DC in first stitch 1 DC in next 4 stitches, Repeat until you have come back around and join at the top of your first DC. Chain 2.
Row 7 - 15: DC in each stitch around, joining and chaining 2 after each round. 

Row 16: HDC in each stitch around, join and tie off.

Use a tapestry needle to weave end threads into the hat.

For the hat shown, I switched to white on Row 7 and Row 8, back to blue for three rows and back to white for Row 12 and Row 13.

The length of this hat can be adjusted by adding additional rows before you add the row of HDC.

"What's Your Mountain?"

Have you heard about the My Mountain Hat Design Contest? You pick the yarn from their selection of fun yarns and design a hat! I chose Aquatic Color from their Boston Style collection, and Neon Yellow from their Boston collection.  It's a bulky yarn that's very easy to work with. My design is going to take more than  originally requested so I'm waiting! More is on the way. What a fun way to jump feet first into the world of creating patterns. I'm anxious to finish this one up. With two sampler hats already finished, the final project should be just right! It was fun designing something and figuring out ways to make it better. 

The theme of the contest is "What's Your Mountain?" I've had many mountains to deal with to get where I am today, but my focus is on crocheting. My personal mountain was learning to read patterns, I've come a  long way baby! What a perfect tribute to overcoming that mountain...designing my own pattern. Photos of the finished hats have to be submitted by August 30th. I'll share photos of the finished projects as soon as I submit them.

So tell me, "What's Your Mountain?" crocheting or otherwise.

Toe Cozie

Last winter a friend was tired of her toes being cold, unable to wear a shoe because of a foot injury. She created a toe cozie to go over her cast and cover her toes to keep them warm. Since, she makes them and donates them to the Walter Reed Medical center to pass out to patients. She brought the idea to our Crochet Club and we joined in the effort. Here is a simple pattern that I worked up. You can embellish them as you choose. The cozie on the left I added a fuzzy border by adding an additional row of single crochets. The sock monkey is an example how you can embellish and make your cozie original. 

BASIC TOE COZIES

Hook Size J
Red Heart Yarn

DC - Double Crochet
SC - Single Crochet
Join - (Join the end of each round by slip stitching into the top of the first Double Crochet)

Start with Magic Ring, Chain 2

Row 1: 7 DC in Magic Ring, join. Chain 2
Row 2: 2 DC in each stitch and join. Chain 2. (16 stitches total)
Row 3: 2 DC, DC in next 3 stitches, Repeat 3X. Chain 2. (20 stitches total)
Row 4: 2 DC, DC in next 3 stitches, Repeat 4X Chain 2. (25 stitches total)
Row 5: 2 DC, DC in next 4 stitches, Repeat 4X Chain 2. (31 stitches total)
Row 6: 2 DC, DC in next 4 stitches, Repeat 5X Chain 2. (37 stitches total)
Row 7 - 17: DC in each stitch around, joining and chaining 2 after each round. (37 stitches each round.)

Chain stitch a long enough chain to lace through the posts of  Row 17 with enough left out to gather and tie. Accessorize as you see fit!

And It All Began

My name is Sheri and I am addicted to yarn! When I was young, I watched my mom and my grandmother create the most amazing things from yarn. A favorite was this doll my mom would make when we had birthday parties to attend. The exact patterns she used then are here now!  Free Vintage Crochet.

Stitch by stitch, frog by frog, I watched as they created. Grandma gave me a hook and some yarn and taught me how to do a chain stitch. She might have taught me a bit more but that was what I took away. Mom taught me how to do a single crochet and I vaguely remembered that.  I was probably around 9 or 10 years old. Albeit dormant for 30 years, a seed was planted. When it decided to take root two years ago...let's just say all yarn broke loose!

Hmmm...what is it? A dish towel perhaps, a miniature doll blanket, bumpy burp cloth...no matter what it looks like, what it is, is the beginning. This is where the addiction began. I went from using a chain and single crochet to a double crochet. Nothing more than scarves and blankets requiring no patterns was good enough for me...until it wasn't. Oh Boy!

It took a while to overcome the fear of following a pattern, trying to decipher the secret codes of crocheting! DC, HDC, back loop, post, space....it might as well have been written in Greek! However, there is SO MUCH information available out there to help you overcome the silliest of fears. AND it's free, thanks to the World Wide Web. 

Soon my scarves were getting a bit more interesting.

And with the help of awesome bloggers like Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me my projects started getting more fun and creative!

It wasn't long before I jumped in with both feet and started to venture into my own creations.

Here I am now, two years later starting a blog! Why? Because I want to share what I have found, what I have learned, awesome sites, videos and projects! I have recently ventured into turning my experiments into actual patterns...this too I want to share! So stay tuned, who know where this little adventure is going to lead.