Yarnification

Sharon from Crochetville asked a question days ago, and I’m sorry for not answering before now! That hat pattern is from a 1978 (I think) edition of Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, and the new one doesn’t have the same patterns in it. But you can probably make one from almost any hat in the round pattern—just do the increases according to the pattern, then work even until it’s the length you want, then do more increases for one row and work even until the brim’s curled up the way you want. Also, Vera told me that Fiber Trends has a pretty similar hat pattern. The first Google result I found was this one: Fiber Trends Crusher Hat.

There was a time a couple of weeks ago (ok, for about the past three weeks) when I barely had time to read my comment notification emails, much less answer, since I was so swamped at work, so if anyone else asked me something and I didn’t answer, I apologize!

The beaded shawl (for my stepdaughter): Probably not going to happen in time, and I may end up saving it as a birthday present instead since that’s just a couple of months away. Still, it’s going so fast now that I’m in the beading rows that I might just get it finished.

Don’s hats: I hated the finished product I ended up with from Cozy Crochet men’s hat pattern, so started over. I’m now doing a modified version of a hat from Hip to Crochet, the one with the fold-up brim. I modified it to get rid of that nipple-looking bit on top, though, since I know Don would never in a million years wear it like that. I’m doing them in masculine colors, black and dark gray, and I settled on Caron Simply Soft for both of them since it feels so cozy and is more affordable than Wool-Ease. (The pattern calls for sportweight yarn, but I was able to get the gauge right with worsted somehow.)

Hopefully I’ll get the first one done soon because the book is due back at the library. I’m making notes as I go along, so it shouldn’t be any problem making a second one without the pattern in front of me.

My mom’s kitchen gift basket: Pretty close to done. I decided to go with fewer scrubbies, so I’m done with those. The potholders are done and blocked, and I’m almost done with the dishcloths. I’m hoping I have enough time to make the basket for it—the fabric basket pattern from Cozy Crochet is really cute, and I have some fabric (leaf-print calico which I intended to do something with ages ago but never did) that, while not the same blue I’ve been using, matches well enough, especially since it’s another one of the blues that my mom has in her kitchen.

My dad’s fleece blanket: Pretty close to done. I intend to finish it today. I worked on it for a few hours yesterday and got the selvage trimmed off, the pieces lined up, and the fringe cut on three of the four sides. Two sides have half the fringe knotted (I’m doing every other one, then flipping it over at the end to knot the rest from the other side as advised in the directions). The directions are here: No-Sew Fleece Blanket. I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out.

Of course, I still haven’t actually finished anything except dishcloths, and I didn’t plan to put up photos of them, just the finished basket full of stuff. But I had to post something, right? So here’s a teeny bit of that fleece blanket—I’ll post a photo of the whole thing once I finish it. This is the top—the underside is dark blue to match the one of the blues in the plaid: