Crochet Maven

The new yarn that I ordered was tempting me. I went to bed early the night the box arrived and didn’t play with any of the new yarn but the next day however, that was a different story. I selected a new yarn that I was unfamiliar with and started a hat. Within roughly 75 minutes of uninterrupted crocheting from the starting magic loop to weaving in the ends, I had a finished hat. The pattern is simple top down basket weave with two rows of single crochet for the brim.

First of all the yarn, Universal Yarn Classic Shades is a pleasure to use. It’s a 70% acrylic and 30% wool blend and I will likely buy more. Last year, I was using up the yarn I have, this yearn I’m buying yarn and using it. That’s not much of a challenge since I have been purchasing amounts in smaller quantities, just enough of a particular colorway for a hat and scarf set. When the yarn is easy to work with the project goes by quickly. I haven’t decided on a pattern for the scarf yet.

For my past few projects I have made coordinating hats and scarves, instead of matching ones. The hats and scarves use the same yarn but not the same stitch pattern; which makes it more freeing and fun. Instead of avoiding postwork, I’ve embraced it and use different combinations as shown in a scarf that I used alternating front and back posts in groupings of two to four, made a center section of five front posts and then decreased the number of posts in the same groupings. The odd numbered groups are in the front for one row and in the back for another.

Then the posts are alternated frontpost and backpost double crochet in the subsequent rows. I like the look but this works best with a lighter weight yarn so the scarf isn’t so wide. In the green scarf that I made in the two to five post groupings, the yarn was a little thicker than the multicolor. The green scarf wasn’t too wide – about 8 inches across compared to the 6 inches with the lighter yarn. For the sets I’m also concerned with warmth for an item that will block the air, so I avoid open- and lacework unless it’s a thicker yarn.

Happy Crocheting!