Tag: Hobby Lobby

Crochet Top down Cable Beanie and Alternative to Faux Knit Brims

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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

Gifted Poncho

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I received a beautiful warm and cozy poncho from my mother-in-law. She made one for all her daughters (3), daughter-in-law (me, 1) and granddaughters (4) for Christmas but decided we could all use them now for the chilly autumn weather. I’m so glad she did too. I can’t imagine making 8 ponchos without a pattern within a months time. We all knew she was making them because she took each of us to pick out the colors we wanted. All the other women/girls picked out really pretty colors (each one picked a variegated plus a solid color). I admit I felt a little bit like I should do that too. Anyone that knows me won’t be too surprised by that admission. I rarely rock the boat. I tend to go with the flow and not really speak my mind unless its something I’m extremely adamant about.
So standing in Hobby Lobby with all of this beautiful, vibrant yarn (I knew I wanted I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby so that’s the section we were in) I finally spoke up. I said, “every color I look at brings me back to teal because it’s my favorite and it makes me happy so I just want a solid teal poncho. Is that ok?” I didn’t even realize I was holding a breath until I sighed with relief when she hugged me and chuckled “Of course! It’s your poncho!” So that’s the story of this poncho. I’ve gotten so many compliments on it at work and this past Saturday while she and I visited several holiday craft fairs.
Even though I didn’t make this project I wanted to share it because, well, its crochet and I love it. But also because she is the one who introduced me to crochet (I’d never heard of it before I met her) and she’s always interested in what I’ve made and what I’m thinking of next. I hope one day I can teach someone else to crochet who loves it as much as I do. Then I can give them the same compliment she gave me to another crocheter this last weekend: the student has surpassed the teacher. While that is far from the truth it is an encouragement and blessing to know that just like my own parents, my mother-in-law is proud of what I’m doing through crochet.
Do you have an amazing craft mentor or do you mentor a beginner crocheter? I’d love to know your story. Share in the comments!