Caps

No, I have not lost interest in crochet quite yet. My attention span may be short, but it's not THAT short! :) I just hadn't had a chance to take photos of the finished objects (FO's in crochet-speak) because of rain, bad lighting, general laziness, and lack of creativity in making the 2 FO's look different from one another. I loved working with the yarn so much that I made both hats from the same color!

So,first one is the Surfer Chick Quick Cap from Chicks with Sticks Guide To Crochet. It's one of the first two books I borrowed from the library when my interest in crochet was reignited. The other one was the For Dummies book. This was really fun to make and the pattern was easy to memorize. I worked on it on the commuter train to NYC over Memorial Day long weekend. I like the open stitches of the cap as it's summer right now. Who wants to wear a thick wool hat in the summer, right?

You can see that the stitches form a sort of scallop edge on the bottom of the cap. I quite like that part of it! Excuse the photos where I'm obviously holding a point-and-shoot as far away from me as possible in order to take a photo of myself. Must find a better way of taking hat photos that don't involve my being in the photo!

The 2nd cap I made is called The Professional, after the cap worn by Matilda, the young girl, in the 1994 movie "The Professional". The pattern can be found here for free. I used a lighter-weight yarn and one hook size down from the one called for in the pattern, which may be why this cap also has a lighter summery feel than the original, which looks heavier. As I used the same color yarn (from the same skein! And I still have leftovers!), I thought I should switch up the photo a bit so it doesn't look like I'm posting the same hat, haha! Notice the more defined band on the bottom of this one.

Between the two caps, I prefer to make the first one again, maybe in a different yarn. I've been itching to go to a yarn store and buy yarn for the past few days, weeks even, and it just never happens. I vow to go tomorrow! It's hard to buy yarn when I don't know what I'll be making and how much I'll need. Hats and scarves are fun because they take so little yarn.

Still working on the Zen Scarf..actually, more like still not working on it. But I shall finish it. Soon! Now, on to my next project.

Boy Beanie

It's hard to decide what to make next as there are just too many choices available! I borrowed the Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker book from the library (one of the many I have at home right now!) and finally chose to make the Boy Beanie because it looked easy enough and seemed like something would wear.

I used Red Heart Eco-ways recycled yarn to make this and the yarn felt a bit weird...almost like plastic, actually, but not in a bad way. Just different. Since I've just started crocheting, the only other yarn I've used prior to this is Lion Brand Cotton Ease. I can't wait to start using really nice yarn, but I've convinced myself I must practice more first.

Anyway, here's the finished product:

I added another round as the picture in the book looked like it would be too short for me. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome of this project. There were a few issues with the back seam where the stitches gaped a bit, but you can't see it when the cap beanie is on. Plus, after doing some research, it seems like the designer has come up with a Boy beanie V 2.0 which "includes revised stitch placement and instructions which minimize gaps at the “seam” which were not included in the original version of the Boy Beanie published in Stitch n Bitch Crochet the Happy Hooker in 2006."

So, I might make another one of these just to satisfy that nagging itch to perfect the stitches. I don't know what I'm going to do with all these beanies, though, haha! Maybe I can sell them someday!