Crochet & Such

Crochet... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

There are at least a million different things you can do with a skein of yarn and a crochet hook... The opportunities to explore your creativity are endless. I was only recently that I discovered just how much I love this little yarn-craft. It started with simple little scarves... Then I began to search the internet for more fun ideas. I found hundreds of patterns that were written in a fashion similar to this...

Materials:

• 1 skein Caron Simply Soft in grey (or whatever color you prefer, but Bella's is grey)
• 5.5mm crochet hook
• 1 large-eyed needle (for weaving in ends)

Some pre-pattern info:
I imagine you can use most worsted-weights single-stranded and accomplish the same feat; however, most of us know that Caron is not your typical worsted weight, so I double-stranded the whole thing. It's not a bad result at all. Just play around with the yarn until you're able to get the proper size to fit over your head :)

To make it look more like Bella's hat, you would use a thinner yarn and more rows in between the BPdc's, adding more length as you go. I kind of like the chunkier look.

As always, please let me know if you find any errors in my pattern :)

Special Stitches:
FPtr: Yarn over twice, insert hook around the post (from the front side of your work) of the stitch indicated; yo and draw up a lp (4 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (3 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (2 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (1 lp on hk)
BPdc: Yarn over, insert hook from the back side of the work right to left around the post of the indicated stitch on a previous row; yo and pull up a loop (3 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (2 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (1 lp on hk)

Pattern:
Ch 3, join

• R1: Ch3 (counts as 1st dc), 11dc's into loop, join. (12dc)
• R2: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R3: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, dc, 2FPtr] 3x
• R4: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 2 sts, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2dc, 2FPtr] 3x
• R5: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 2 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R6: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 4 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 4dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R7: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 6 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 6dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R8: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 8 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 8dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R9-R12: Ch3, 11dc, 2FPtr, [12dc, 2FPtr] 3x (work even)
• R13: Ch3, 11BPdc, 2FPtr, [12BPdc, 2FPtr] 3x (work even)
• R14-16: work same as R9
• R17: work same as R13
• R18: [Ch1, sl st] around

Bind Off.

This can be terrifying for someone that doesn't know what any of those symbols/abbreviations stand for... But after watching about 20 youtube videos, I was finally able to figure it out... So far I've made a HUGE blanket, several hats, a knit cell phone case, baby blankets, etc. The pattern you see above is for the hat pictured above... Courtesy of JennyHat. It's one of many patterns put together to replicate the hat that Bella Swan wears at La Push in the 1st Twilight movie. I started it last night. It is really simple after you understand what a FPtr is... :0)

This is a hat that I made last week... The pattern was pretty easy but sometimes I think I have a learning disorder for reading acronyms... :-) After frogging (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it apart) it like five times, I realized what I had been doing wrong... The hat is great but I don't care for how light-weight the yarn is... Even though I can wear is over my ears, it really doesn't keep any heat on my head. I think after the Bella hat, I'm going to try and cable knit... scary... :-)