A year of hats and scarves – won’t that get boring? Not to me. Many people might find making the same thing over and over again repetitive. To keep the projects interesting, I have been using different yarns and patterns or trying the same pattern with different yarn. Lately I have been making coordinates instead of matching the hats and scarves with the same stitch pattern in both, I have been using the same yarn and changing the stitch pattern. The sets are made for warmth and may be the only warm item a person has, so I try to make the hats that don’t have a lot of eyelets or lacy features. There are many different patterns to use for scarves but to have the pattern also match a skull cap/beanie can be limiting unless the design or pattern focuses on color. A few yarns don’t need a lot to make something unique, especially if they are color changing or novelty.
Instead of matching the hat and scarf in a set, I figured why not try to use a different stitch, with the same yarn: A coordinate, instead of an exact match. The yarn is the same and gives a bit more creative freedom to the process. If there are stripes in the hat, there can be stripes in the scarf, but why not mix the stitches and match the yarn. The results have been pleasing. Especially when there are patterns that don’t necessarily lend themselves to a hat or a scarf. Long rows of ribbing can make a scarf curl on the edges and it won’t necessarily work to make a border when using a color changing yarn. A scarf can have a design with a little openwork and still be warm, a hat, not so much.
I’m at the halfway point of the 60 set goal for 2021! Just completed 30 hat and scarf sets and it’s not even April, and I’m still excited about the project. It’s really not so much about being excited about the project as much as making the sets look unique, especially if I’m using similar yarn.
Happy crocheting!
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.
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.
I had to look at the hat and make notes about what I did. Then I had to figure out what the scarf would look like, to keep it from being too wide, since I already knew that I wanted to make the scarf horizontally. I used the notes that I made for the hat to tentatively make notes for the scarf. One section I wanted a little wider, so I added another row of postwork. I showed my mother the notes and she said this makes no sense, she also doesn’t crochet. She showed them to my father and he said this is something you could use. He always teases us about measurements when we are cooking. Baking requires precise measurements, cooking does not, especially when it comes to spices.
With a sketch for a hat and scarf pattern in a notebook I made the hat and scarf again in a different yarn that was a little loftier in weight though still a worsted weight #4 yarn. Using the notes, I was able to follow the pattern without too much editing. For someone else to use this pattern, I need to write more specific language about the rounds for the crown but this gives me a good start and I won’t have to wrack my brain tying to figure out what I did. My notes remind me of handwritten recipes that I have from my grandmother and a late friend – the ingredients are all there, it’s just assumed you know the mechanics.
Last year I decided that I wanted to use up a lot of my working stash, even before the pandemic. That worked well. Now in 2021 – all bets are off. I have taken advantage of sales and bought new yarn while still using some yarn that isn’t set aside for afghans. As much as I crochet and make hats one of my favorite patterns is the basket weave stitch or some variation that includes front and back post stitches. It doesn’t make a difference how many new patterns I try for hats: I like the look even in different yarns.
2021 will be a great year for crocheting. For this year’s crochet goals I’m thinking 60 hat and scarf sets and 10 red scarves. This will still give me time to make some other things. At first I was thinking 50 sets. But since I finished a set, a hat for a second and have made good progress on the accompanying scarf and the first week of January hasn’t even ended, 60 sets and 10 red scarves is a manageable goal. This will also give me time to work on some other projects or use some oddballs to make hats.
Since I finished my mystery balls with black, I’m looking forward to starting an afghan made with those this year. I’ve been buying yarn with reckless abandon and I’m itching to use some new yarn.
Like many metropolitan areas I’m going to be working from home for a few weeks because of COVID-19. I’ve been planning and have much of what I need, I bought toilet paper when it was on sale several weeks ago, because it was a really great sale and I have a lot of food in my freezer so I’m good. There are at least two bags of coffee beans in my cabinet, as well as lots of tea and hot chocolate.
There are a couple of projects that I have finished since my office closed. I completed a hat to go with a set. Completed a scarf to go with a set, picked up an afghan that had been just sitting by my favorite chair in my living room. I generally work on it during a weekly conference call, but it was shorter than the usual hour, so I only finished a couple of rows. It may get promoted to my movie watching chair in the living room when I finish the other afghan, so I can finish it sooner.
I finally wound the yarn I dyed a few weeks ago with Easter Egg dye and found a bag of eight hanks Lorna’s Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies in Cat Bordhi’s Ahah! I figured since I had the ball winder and swift out, why not make it worth the effort. In the yarn I dyed, I chose one to use for the hat, as it has once section where the colors blended together more than the others and there’s a section of dark orange/rust. I didn’t wind all of the Lorna’s that I found, just enough for a hat and scarf this time around. I’ll save the other four for another time.