Crochet Top down Cable Beanie and Alternative to Faux Knit Brims

First, isn’t this yellow gorgeous? I admit I’m longing for spring/summer and this reminds me of sunny days.

In my last post on the blog I made an adult sized purple cabled beanie. I really enjoyed it on a few super cold and breezy days.

While I was making the purple beanie I thought I would prefer a top down cabled beanie. A ribbed brim takes forever (seemed like it anyway since I was eager to start cabling) plus not caring for cinched tops, it all seemed to make sense in my head.

As usual off to YouTube I go. I couldn’t find any top down cabled beanies that I cared for. Retraction: I did end up finding one but I was having a hard time following along. Also, there is another one on Ravelry I haven’t mastered yet so that’ll be in a later post.

Well now what do I do? Try to come up with my own, of course! So here’s what I know from the purple beanie: I was working with a total of 60 stitches. So I increased the yellow hat to 60 stitches followed by a round of 1 double crochet. Then I followed the regular cabled pattern as usual. Essentially they’re upside down cables but it worked and looked nice. So once I got as many cables as I wanted I needed to figure out how to get a faux knit look. I didn’t want to use the typical alternating of front post and back post. On YouTube though I found several tutorials that teach a method that looks just like if I had started with the brim. Here’s how it works: after slip stitching to join you chain up however wide you want the brim to be (I only did 5 chains since it was a child’s hat). Then you single crochet in the back loop only back down the chain. To anchor the brim you slip stitch into the next 2 stitches. Then work back up the back loops of the chain. It was much easier than I’m making it sound. The tutorial I recommend is from @tlyarncrafts.

So here’s what I think about working top down cables and the alternative faux knit brim: While top down works up much faster it’s worth taking the time to start with the brim and work your way up. It just has a more polished finish overall. The alternative faux knit brim looks kinda wonky so maybe I just need practice. Toni’s looked great in her video so I’m sure it’s me. Also the typical crown increasing just looks kinda odd. It gives the crown a kind of square shape that I like a lot less than a cinched crown I can halfway hide.

Lastly, here’s the details on the size, hook and yarn. I’d love to know if you have a favorite top down cabled hat pattern. Leave a comment.

Hat size: 12 months

Hook: I9/5.5mm

Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn Sport in color Sun Yellow.

Britnee

County Fair Part 2

Last night we went to the county fair. We always have a good time but this year was phenomenal because Turtle (who is 4.5 years old) was completely into it. He is for the most part, normally, a pretty cautious child. It took us by surprise that he wanted roller coasters. Like not just the kid roller coasters. He wanted the grown up ones that, thankfully, he was still too small for. He did go on the Tilt-a-Whirl and another similar one that I can’t remember the name for. It was really fun to watch just pure exhilaration on Turtle’s face. Even Burger had a great time. Because of his cerebral palsy Burger is easily overstimulated so he keeps his head down a lot and pretends he’s sleeping. But not last night. He went through a few minutes screaming right along with his brother. Turtle was screaming on this Dragon Wagon ride and we could hear him and Burger just screamed and laughed. I was actually able to get some good photos of Burger with his head up and smiling. I treasure so much of what our 2 boys do and/or say in my heart and last night was no exception. It was just fun!

To top the night off we stopped by the Family Arts Building to see how my 7 items of crochet did. If you can hear a drumroll in your head, now is the time. (Excuse the photos. They’re in display cases and I didn’t want to wait until I got my items back).

First up, Turtle’s fidget spinner case. It got 2nd place. Yay!!!! Its the red ribbon.

Finally, my Minty Toddler Cardigan with Sleeves. CHAMPION! I couldn’t (and still can’t) believe it. Beyond excited. 

I hope everyone had as great of a day as we had yesterday.

Fidget Spinner Case

Have you seen these fidget spinners? Personally, I don’t “get” them but they are kinda fun. Like any responsible parents, we’ve had to use them as bribes to get Turtle to take his eye drops after his eye surgery last week. So in the past week we’ve managed to collect 3. 
I was browsing around Pinterest (of course) and came across a fidget spinner case by Fiber Flux. Naturally I had to give that trick a whirl. It was super easy and fast for some ultimate cuteness. I found this cute hand button in a pack of 7 at Wal-Mart today. The orange worked perfectly I thought. By the way, I told Turtle last night he could choose any of my yarn and this old school (judging by the sleeve) was what he chose. I thought he didn’t know what he wanted so I started making a blue one and he said “Moommm, I told you I wanted this yarn. Why did you ask me?” Haha. He had a good point. 

Are any kiddos in your life into these trendy hand spinners? If so, these would make a great gift. Custom orders accepted. 

Water Balloons

I’ve seen these crochet water balloons on several sites and wanted to make some for Turtle. The pattern is from Left in Knots and there’s also a video tutorial. The pattern is really super easy. 

As for the yarn, I’m not used to big hooks or super bulky yarn but oh my goodness its incredibly soft and squishy. The pattern calls for 9.00mm/N hook. My N hook is a 10mm which is the bigger balloon. I then decided to try a K hook which I like a little better for Turtle since he’s only 4. We haven’t gotten to play with them yet but I almost can’t keep the surprise from him anymore because I want to know if they’ll work. I bought 2 skeins of the Bernat Blanket and will update this post as to how many balloons I get. 

Are you having a fun-filled summer using your yarn and hooks?

Turtle Burger Crochet

DISCLAIMER: This post contains links to other crochet designer sites. Please do not post their patterns. I personally am very appreciative of all the access to free patterns since I’m not a designer. Please do not take advantage of their generosity to the crochet world by ignoring their rights as designers and property owners. Thanks for your cooperation.

Hello and welcome to Turtle Burger Crochet. My name is Britnee. I’m a wife, mother and avid crocheter.  Just in case you’re wondering where Turtle Burger came from it is the nicknames of my 2 sons. I have been crocheting consistently for about 2 years. Crochet and I are now life long friends.  My goal for this blog is to share my crochet adventures and encourage new crocheters.

Although I consider myself relatively new to crochet, I have yet to do the typical new crocheters projects of dish cloth’s and scarves. They are definitely on my to-do list though.

Since there is no time like the present I will jump into the projects I just finished for my youngest son Turtle. Easter was just a couple days ago so I made him a Thomas the Train Easter basket and Thomas and Percy trains. I’m also making James the train but that wasn’t done on time.

The basket was really easy. After searching like crazy, I found this free pattern from Rachel Choi at Crochet Spot. Her directions for making the basket larger were very clear and this basket whipped up in no time when I actually had the time to continuously work on it. I have many more baskets planned for various things so I think to make it sturdier I will play around with using 2 strands of yarn as well as crocheting over pipe cleaner to get the handle to stand up. So many options!

For the face of Thomas on the basket, I found a really adorable crochet Thomas the Train hat and used the face pattern for the hat. Sadly, my little guy will not wear hats but I wish he did so I could make him Amy’s hat because it is so cute.

The engines were also super easy because my little train fan just wanted the main body so I didn’t need to complete the pattern using the cabin and platform. The body was worked in the round. I was actually glad Turtle didn’t want more than the body because I’m not very good at sewing pieces together and was really dreading that part. Here’s the pattern from TansyDolls.I’m not really sure how but I forgot to put the rest of the face on Percy. Grr to myself. Oh well so it goes. Ha!