Hats!

Okay, I've got hats. Lots of hats. As I mentioned sometime earlier, my mother-in-law asked me to make her a hat. So I did. But I couldn't make her just one hat. What if it didn't fit? What if it wasn't the right texture? What if she didn't like it? What if I wasn't such an obsessive perfectionist?

Well, hats are really easy to make, and quick, too, so I bought a few skeins of several different yarns—Lion Brand Homespun in Edwardian (a mix of shades of black) and Wool-Ease in Chocolate (dark brown), Bernat Soft Bouclé in Misty Shades (a mix of shades of brown), and Caron Jewel Box in Deep Jasper (a brown and black mix)—and I made a bunch of hats. So now Mom gets to go "shopping" in my box of finished hats!

Complicated stitch patterns would just get lost in the texture of the Homespun, the Soft Bouclé, or the Jewel Box, so I used simple patterns. I rarely follow the patterns exactly. I follow the increase rounds only until the hat fits the top of my head. Then I follow the rounds worked evenly only until the hat is as long as I want it, usually until it just covers my ears. Then I follow the brim rounds, but sometimes I change the edging.

I bribed my daughter into posing for me again. Shy Brigid didn't want too much of her face showing, but she balked at my idea of turning her into an anonymous mannequin by covering her head with a stocking. Go figure. So these pictures will show only glimpses of her face. Too bad. She's a beautiful young woman.

This pattern from Bev's Country Cottage calls for Chenille Sensations yarn, but I used Homespun (with a P hook) and Soft Bouclé (with an N hook), with nice results. I've made a bunch of these hats. Below are photos of two of them. Click on the pictures for a larger view.


This hat is made from Lion Brand Homespun.


This one is made in Bernat Soft Bouclé.

I made this Crochet Cloche, with Homespun for the hat and some leftover Jiffy (in Duluth) for the rosette. I followed this pattern fairly closely, even using the suggested hook sizes—something I rarely do! I crochet tightly, so I normally use a larger hook than a pattern calls for.


Here is the Crochet Cloche made with Lion Brand Homespun.

I made several hats based on Janelle Schlossman's hat pattern A Little Bit of Funk. Her pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn, and the stitches are worked in the back loops only. I used only a single strand of my yarn, and I worked in both loops. Because I used only one strand and because the yarns I used aren't as stiff as worsted, my hats don't have the pronounced brim that her hat does. Instead, my brims are much floppier and more ruffled. I like how these turned out.


This hat is made from Caron Jewel Box.


This one is made from Lion Brand Wool-Ease.


And this one is made from the Soft Bouclé.

I liked all the hats I made out of these yarns, but I really like the fabric I created with the Bernat Soft Bouclé. I used this yarn once before for a really lacy open poncho, and I liked that well enough. But I like the texture of the fabric made with simple single crochet much better. So now I'm going to have to make something else out of this yarn.


Here's a close-up of one of the hats I made from the Soft Bouclé. I really like the appearance of this fabric. I also really like this picture of Brigid.