Wednesday, December 11, 2013

An Evening With Pearl Jam

A few weeks ago, Pearl Jam came to Charlotte. We had a blast. I just had to share.

My sister and brother-in-law

I know it's not craft related, but I get excited when it comes to Eddie Vedder.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Our Outer Banks Wedding Trip

Left to Right: step-dad, mom, Michael, me, Ireland, sister, nieces
my beautiful sister and nieces
There are so many photos to go through...I think I'll add more later. During this trip I worked on another Elise shawl (I'm addicted) that I finished 2 weeks ago.

I'll post more photos of the trip later in another post.
Have a great weekend!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Unforgettable Hat

I look so excited...I hate having to be in photos
         
I named this hat Unforgettable because I love the yarn. It's so nice and soft to be acrylic (and easily accessible found in all craft stores and big stores). I love all the colors and have bought skeins of each color available.


Currently, I'm working on three projects with Unforgettable...very inexpensive gifts when you have a lot to make.

Just an FYI: This hat takes a very small amount of yarn to make. I had so much left out of the one skein, I made a pair of fingerless mitts too...with yarn left over. At this time AC Moore has this yarn on sale for $4 a skein. They also have a 50% off coupon, so that makes it about $2-3 for a hat and mitts set. This makes great gifts for hardly any money! 

This hat took less than one skein. You can easily make it more slouchy by adding rounds. It actually ended up a little too slouchy for my taste, but it's okay. If you want it more fitted just crochet about 14 rounds instead of 16...or however many you need. It's easy to adjust.

Materials

Worsted Weight Yarn (I used Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Parrot)
I love Lion Brand Amazing as well (especially Mauna Loa colorway)
Size H (5mm) crochet hook
Yarn Needle

Gauge
15sts or 8 rows = 4 inches (10cm)

Pattern

Note: Join each round. Begin each round with ch 3 which will count as a dc.

Ch 4

Round 1: 11 dc in first chain made which will be the 4th ch from hook. The skipped three chains will count as the first dc. Join with sl st in top of first st of rnd.  (12 dc)

Rnd 2: 2 dc in each st. Join (24 dc)

Rnd 3: 2 dc in first st, dc in next st. (2 dc in next st, dc in next st) around. Join (36 dc).

Rnd 4: 2 dc in first st, dc in next 2 sts. (2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 sts) around. Join (48 dc).

Rnd 5: 2 dc in first st, dc in next 3 sts. (2 dc in next st, dc in next 3 sts) around. Join (60 dc).

Rnd 6: 2 dc in first st, dc in next 4 sts. (2 dc in next st, dc in next 4 sts) around. Join (72 dc).

Rnds 7-16: Dc in each st around. Join. Do not finish off.

Ribbing

I love this ribbing method. I don't remember where I learned it. (pattern or someone showing me)


Work ribbing in rows. If you crochet loosely, go down a hook size to G. I crocheted the ribbing rather tightly, so the H hook worked fine for me.

Ch 12

Row 1: sc into one loop of each chain. You will be working back toward the body of the hat. (11 sc). Attach to hat with sl st into the next st on the hat. Sl st into the next st. Ch 1. Turn

Row 2: Skip over the ch and those slip stitches. Sc in the back loop only in each st across. Ch 1, turn. (11 sc)  In the photo below, you can see where I skipped those sl sts and put the first sc in the back loop of the stitch that I'm holding.


Row 3: Sc in back loop only in each st across. Sl st into next 2 sts in the last rnd of the hat. Ch 1, turn.

 In this photo you can see that I am attaching to the last round of the hat. Make sure you do not work into the same stitch that you already have a sl st in.


Rows 4- 71:   Repeat rows 2 and 3. It can be a little tricky at first to skip over those sl st made. Just count your stitches and make sure you only have 11 sc in each row. Remember those slip stitches are only to attach to the hat and not to work in to.

Keep going until you get all the way around.


 Sl st into the last st on the hat and into the join. Now turn and sl st the seam together. I turned the hat inside out and slip stitched into the back loops of each of the joining rows.

Weave ends. All done!


Confused? I'll try to help. Just leave a comment.
As I mentioned before, I made a matching set of mitts with the leftover yarn. I'll get to work on that pattern and try to post next weekend.