A few weeks ago, I found a crochet-a-long for an afghan that piqued my interest because the center section would allow me to make a creative top down hat. I made a hat with a few modifications to the center section of the afghan because I didn’t want it to be too big. It was ok and on the smaller side, but the next one I made worked out beautifully, then I decided to make a third with a change in the pattern – same basic premise and it also turned out well.
As I’ve mentioned before, patterns are like recipes. Instead of moving forward with the afghan crochet a long, I was inspired to use the beginning techniques to make a hat. I like the flexibility of the bottom up or brim up hat, but I like how the top down hats seem to be warmer and have fewer holes in them in the crown.
I was online and saw the first portion of the Study of Planet Earth afghan and thought I could use that in making a top down hat that would be warm. I changed things a little bit since I’m making smaller hats and I know that the crown should be in the four inch range. The techniques used in the video can be adapted for an adult hat since the crown is larger. Once I got to the proper diameter of approximately four inches for the crown, then the decreases stop and I just continue crocheting in the round, until the hat is the right height, then single crochet in the last round or two.
Since I’ve almost met my goal for scarves (four in progress as I’ve been concentrating on little red hats) I’ve been thinking of donating to the Seamen’s Christian Institute. I want to make sure that I follow the guidelines of an organization before sending any item. On their page there are several patterns, mostly for knitted garments. The Seafarer’s scarf seems enticing and I’m interested in challenging myself to create a crochet version. There are a couple of different ways to do it, but I’m up for the challenge. The knitted pattern has the dimensions listed and that will be my starting point for the crochet version. As much as I’ve searched Google and Ravelry, I can’t find a crocheted version of the Seafarer’s scarf. As I always say – patterns are suggestions. The approximate dimensions are given for the knit patterns as well as suggested yarn weight. To me, as a crocheter that means challenge accepted.
Now all I have to do is pick a color and make sure I have enough for a hat and scarf. Stay tuned!
Happy crocheting!
