A beary cute hat. Take two.

Success!

The new/original yarn definitely tested my patience. It's pretty fuzzy, which makes it difficult to see the loops in the chains. I did find out that this yarn is "worsted weight" and it's also "medium", so that's good. I finally figured it out and managed to whip up this cutey. It did take me a couple hours to make this (and really it should have only taken about an hour), but I'm still a beginner. The fact that I was able to get this done in less than a day is pretty impressive in my book. I did use a larger hook than the pattern called for, but that's because it's what worked best for me. The final piece ended up being 7"x7", so it might be a tad bigger than hoped for. Sadly, I don't have any newborns to try it on.

I attempted to wing the ears with an idea I had for them, but that failed. So I went back to the pattern and followed her directions for the ears. Once those were done, I sewed them on, wove in all my ends, and then sat back and smiled at my beary cute hat!

My previously mentioned friend Julie, told me about this pretty neat site with tons of free patterns. It's called Ravelry and I plan on tackling some of their patterns in the future. I also have the "Cozy Crochet Kit" I purchased when I first decided I wanted to learn to crochet. I've gone through the patterns that came with the kit and I'll be working through them one by one.

Next up: Soft Coaster.

I'm pretty sure newborns aren't this small.

My not-quite-completed hat

To begin with, this thing is tiny. Too tiny. I know newborns are small, but I've been around enough to know they're not this small. I'm sure my problem is that I used too thin of yarn & I think I might crochet small. My finished project should be 6 inches wide, when flat. My actual hat is 5 inches wide. That's actually a lot better than I thought. However, it should be 7 inches long, and is only 3.

I ended up using my 5.50 hook, as the 3.75 was beyond too small. I also ended up using a different yarn than I had originally planned. The blue yarn you see here is my practice yarn. It's quite scratchy, but easy to learn with. Sadly, I ran out of yarn, which explains why the hat is 4 inches too short and sans ears.

As a first go, I'm pretty proud of myself. Though the hat is unusable, I wouldn't be using this yarn anyway, so I'm ok with that. I plan on trying again with the original yarn and my 5.50 hook. I'm hoping I will have an easier time with this yarn now that I understand the pattern and what is expected of me from it. Luckily I have plenty of this other yarn, so I should have no problem completing one this time. I am also hoping this yarn is thicker, allowing for a larger final product. I will also be attempting to keep my chains larger, both to make a larger hat and to make it easier to maneuver all around.

Wish me luck.

A beary cute hat.

Yes, I am that cheesy.

My friend Julie crocheted the most adorable bear hat I have ever seen. Now, don't get your panties in a wad while you point out that I have not seen that many bear hats in my day. While it may be true, I stand by what I said. I don't know where she got her pattern, but the hat looks like this:

I scoured the internet (for about 1.5 seconds while I consulted Google) for a "crochet bear hat pattern." I was eventually led to a nice lady named Naida and her site here. She has the pattern listed and I didn't even notice her name for it until just now. That is how observant I am.

So I'll be starting this today. I don't have a 4.00 hook, so I'll be using my trusty 3.75. I have no clue what worsted yarn is, but I have some medium yarn I think I'll use. Lastly, I have no idea how to read a pattern, so I'll be referring to the Craft Yarn Council. No clue if I'll be able to figure it out, but you'll be the first to know if I do!

Wish me luck!