A Pom Hat

I’ve been a busy bee this weekend.  I made three hats this weekend.  The first two you can see by reading my past two blog entries.  This one is the latest in granny square hats.  I used the granny square idea that I got from Laughing Goldfish Designs pattern.  This time I used a combo of variegated orange and white/cream yarns.  I’m still having a problem figuring out how to adjust the size for adult heads.  I’ve followed Goldfish’s pattern for the number of rows and expansions and either my gauge is smaller than hers or Aussie heads are smaller than my American head (just kidding J).

When this hat was finished I decided that it too needed some embellishment.  I found a pom pom maker as I was looking for beads this weekend.  I don’t know where I bought it but it’s these three sets of plastic circles.  You put the circles together and wrap yarn all the way around the circle.  You can put as much or as little yarn around each circle. 

Once you have it wrapped all around you cut the yarn on the outer loops.  And wrap a piece of yarn or piece of string around the center you just cut out.  Tie it VERY tightly and then rub it all between your hands to fluffy it up. And Viola you end up with a pom pom. 

So for this hat I made three small pom poms and then I did a combo knot/sew job to affix them to the hat.  Of course, now they just look like 1 pom pom so I probably should’ve just made a big pom pom in the first place, but Oh, Well…  Whatya gonna do? Right?

So, here’s the finished product.

I think I need to learn how to crochet a brim.  I think these hats would look cute with a turned up brim.

Another New Hat

A few months ago – when it was cold – I began working on a hat.  It was a simple single crochet round hat.  The basic pattern was to go round and round and round increasing the number of stitches on each row until you have a hat big enough for your head.  I ran out of yarn and I put it aside.  I finally picked up a new skein of the same color yarn.  It’s not from the same lot of coloring but I don’t think you can tell the difference.  Instead of just continuing with the plain single crochet I decided to add a little flair to the hat.

So, I created several rows of double crochet granny square type stiching.  I finished off the edging of the cap by doing a reverse crochet.  I don’t remember where I heard about reverse crochet but thanks to You Tube I was able to figure out how to do it and made that my main edging on this hat.

Once I finished that, I decided it needed more flair.  I wanted to add beads so I began looking around my house.  I knew I had beads in one of my drawers.  (I’m not a very organized person).  Well, I found a bag of beads and ornaments.  They were from a kit.  I made these ornaments to give away one year but never gave them away.  So, I took the circle ornament and some gold thread that came with the kit and sewed the ornament onto the hat.  I don’t know if the ornament or thread will survive if/when the hat is washed, but until then, I’m very pleased with how this came out.  

This is the best close up I could get of the ornament, granny stitching and the reverse crochet.

Had to take a pic of it on my head.  I don't know how people take pictures of themselves.  Mine are always blurry or off center or just plain gross.  Anyway, there's the best shot out of too many where you can see what it'll look like on my head.

I think now it's time I get back to making squares for my afghan.  

I can't wait for winter to come.

My latest project

I must be crazy.  My AC compressor stopped working 4 days ago.  It was hotter in my house than it was outside.  This week was a hot week.  It was between 85-90 each day.  It was at least 88 degrees in the house.  All this leads me to trying to explain WHY I chose this latest project.  Well, I don’t know.  I follow a blog called Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs.  I believe the woman who writes this blog is in Australia.  She creates the best stuff by crocheting or knitting.  She knits with recycled VCR tape, plastic bags, cloth straps.   She has some of the greatest ideas.  She posted an article in April with a project called the Shabby Hat.  I don’t know why she called it shabby.  I thought it was pretty cool looking.  So I decided a few days ago, in the midst of sweating away the pounds I decided it was time to pull out her pattern instructions and give it a shot.  I didn’t understand all her instructions for the first round but I improvised and was able to make it work.  Below are the photos of my finished product.  It’s my Pink Camo Hat.  I almost can’t wait until winter comes so that I can wear this baby.

Front side of the hat with simple flower embellishments.

I've never done any embellishments before but I was inspired by Laughing Goldfish woman.

So I made these small simple flowers.

This is the back side of the hat.

 

A couple of shots of me wearing my new hat.

I really like this hat.  I'm going to make several more versions of it and see what kind of variations I can me.  

Thank you Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs for inspiring me.  

Man I can't wait for winter to come.