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Recap - The Best Hats of 2022

12/24/2022

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There are 22 hats that I gave a rating of 4 or higher. Here they are starting with the ones that had a rating of four. Most of these were given to Neighborhood House in St. Paul or Ramsey County Social Services. If it went somewhere else, I put that in the list.

​Clicking on the photo should take you to the original blog post for that hat.

Five hats got ratings of four:
  • Child's hat from Good Housekeeping
  • Flings 'n Caps Violet Hat - still available :)
  • 1978 Baby Hat
  • Lily No 214 Hat from 1968
  • I Taught Myself to Crochet hat from 1975
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Good Housekeeping Girl's Cap
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Violet Hat
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Baby Hat from 1978
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Lily No 214 Hat
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I Taught Myself to Crochet Hat

Seven hats had ratings of 4.5:
  • Convertible Ski Mask
  • Winter Warmer
  • Shaded Beret - This went to the Apple Valley High School Theatre department.
  • Baby Hat 1974
  • Rainbow Earrings - I gave these away at work during Pride Month.
  • Geometric Hat
  • Wild Rose - I kept this one and wear it as a sun hat. Even though the directions were difficult to read I still really like the hat.
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Convertible Ski Mask
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Winter Warmer Hat
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Shaded Beret
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1974 Baby Hat
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Earrings
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Geometric Hat
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McCall's Wild Rose Hat

And finally, here are the ten hats that all got a rating of five out of five:
  • Teach Yourself to Crochet Bucket Hat
  • Teach Yourself to Crochet Hooded Scarf
  • Strawtex Lacy Brim Hat - I gave this one to my step-mother. She lives in a hot and sunny climate.
  • Hi-Straw Hat - Anne - I gave this one to my step-mother too.
  • Afghan Stitch Ski Band
  • Bobble Stitch Hat
  • Cluster Stitch Hat
  • Shell Stitch Hat
  • Checker Cap
  • Striped Beret - the second one I kept and my favorite!
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Teach Yourself to Crochet Bucket Hat
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Teach Yourself to Crochet Hooded Scarf
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Strawtex Hat
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Hi-Straw Anne Hat
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Afghan Stitch Headband
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Bobble Stitch Hat
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Cluster Stitch Hat
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Shell Stitch Hat
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Checkered Cap
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Striped Beret

One of the reasons I started making hats in general was that I don't really like them. They often crush my glasses against my ears or just look weird. Overall it was a pretty good year of making hats. I learned a lot about reading vintage patterns and ended up with two hats that I like! 
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Recap - The worst and the just ok hats

12/17/2022

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I made 38 hats in 2022. The patterns ranged from 1965-1986 and more than half of them had a rating of 4 or higher. This week I'll share the ones that were the worst and those that were sort of meh. Next week I'll share the best and tell you which ones I kept. I think I rated a little harsher as I went through the year so some of the ones that I did in the beginning might have better scores than I would give them now.

Clicking on the photo will take you to the blog post for each of these.

The Worst (ratings of 2.5 or below):
  • There are two hats that had a zero rating because I ripped them out; The Clouds and Rainbows Hat and the Yellow Picture Hat (shown in blue).
  • The Earflap Hat got a rating of one. I think that was generous and I would have ripped it out if I hadn't sewn the ends in so well.
  • The Daisy Hat had instructions that made that hat ripple and it was very big.
  • The 1965 headband was huge and fit terribly.
  • The Thread hat was way too small.
  • The 1976 Headwarmer had directions that were a little iffy and there was a strange gap when it was sewn together.
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Zero: Clouds and Rainbows Hat
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Zero: The Yellow Picture Hat
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One: Earflap Hat
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Two: The Daisy Hat
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Two: 1965 Headband
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Two: Thread hat from 1974 Good Housekeeping
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2.5: 1976 Headwarmer
The "Not so bad" (rating of 3-3.5):

There were seven hats that had a rating of 3 and two that had a rating of 3.5.
  • The 1976 Head hugger had directions that were pretty bad.
  • The Turban hat was just a little weird.
  • ​The Bulky Ski mask was too small.
  • The Popcorn hat was cute but pretty small. I was a little worried it would fall off if it wasn't pinned on.
  • The Ripple Hat gave me a very tiny hat the first time.  I sized it up a little and ended up with an ok hat. 
  • The Good Housekeeping Head hugger would have been cute if it worked but it didn't look like the magazine photo and was very small.​​
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Three: 1976 Head Hugger
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Three: 1973 Turban Hat
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Three: Bulky Ski Mask
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Three: 1973 Popcorn Hat
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Three: 1981 Ripple Hat (after I revised the sizing)
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Three: 1974 Head hugger that hugged tightly
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  • The Hippy Dippy Granny Square hat was made for someone with big hair or a bigger head than me.
  • The Reversible Ski Hat could have been better if done with a lighter weight yarn. It was really stiff with two layers of worsted weight yarn.
  • The Cloche hat was fine - the directions were a little lacking.
​
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Three: Hippy Dippy Granny Square Hat
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3.5: Reversible Ski Hat
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3.5: 1974 Cloche


Next week will be the 22 hats that had a score of 4 or higher.
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Clouds and Rainbows Hat - 1986

12/10/2022

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The Clouds and Rainbows hat comes from the 1986 Winter Omnibook issue of Crochet World. This issue has a lot of very interesting patterns that I need to share before I show you the hat I made from the magazine.

First we have a mouse that dispenses toilet paper while holding cheese. Kind of cute but is this sanitary? Is the mouse washable? 
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Next we have a nativity set. At first I thought Mary had blonde hair in the photo but after checking the pattern they skip giving her hair and give her a veil instead. Joseph has a dark beard but the way the photo is taken it looks a little like a skull and is giving the whole scene zombie vibes. 
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The Crochet World magazines had a lot of Barbie and Ken clothing in the 1980s and this is an excellent example of one. Ken obviously skis and must have his very own, fashionable ski suit.
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Other patterns not pictured include;
  • Tommy the Two-Faced Clown. Tommy has a sad face and a happy face. The description says that this is great gift for children because they can use it to say if they're happy or sad. Too bad there isn't a terrified face option.
  • A set of toys to crochet that include a knapsack, binoculars, flashlight and canteen. I think these are fun but the flashlight looks more like a light saber to me.
  • A life sized mallard duck. The finished size is 8.5 inches tall and 16 inches long. I've never been up close to a mallard but this seemed a little small. Then I realized that the duck is sitting down and the height doesn't include the feet or legs.

And now the Clouds and Rainbows hat. I knew I wanted to make this the moment I saw it. I was so confused about how that would stay on and if it would really turn out like the photo.
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This uses worsted weight yarn and an I hook. I used Lion Brand Basic Stitch which I think of as a lighter weight worsted. They give a gauge that I matched perfectly in the white part of the hat with the recommended hook. The size is given as Misses and there's a note; "This pattern is recommend for experienced crocheters. With a little help beginners can also work this pattern." The note is accurate but maybe not for the reasons you would normally think. The pattern and stitches aren't that hard but the directions assume you have experience crocheting and can read into the directions to get the parts they chose to leave out.

The hat is done in the round and the white part is all half double crochets that you join at the end of each round. Here's where I think the beginner would have difficulty.
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Round two (and throughout the pattern) misses the chain two to start each round or maybe they think you don't need that part and it will be fine. I did the chain two at the beginning of each round.

It's nice that they give you a stitch count to make sure you're increasing the right amount. In fact, they're pretty clear about how to increase the rounds right up until round 16 where they tell you to increase by 12 stitches evenly instead of the nine you had been increasing.

Round 17 is a round of shells, Round 18 is a color round that is mostly single crochet stitches. Round 19-22 it says to continue in pattern and while it's obvious to me that the "pattern" is round 17-18 that may not be obvious to a beginner. It's not that hard to write something like; repeat round 17 and 18 twice. Rounds 23-29 repeat the "pattern" while increasing the size of the shells. It ends with a pompon (I skipped the pom).

​This was fast to make but it doesn't fit.
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I know you're saying, "What if you just folded the brim up?" Aside from the fact that it hides the rainbow part, it's still too big.
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Notice that I didn't sew that last end in. I'm going to rip it out. I did sew in the color ends so hopefully it's not too much work.
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I expected this hat to be weird but didn't expect it to be so big. This gets zero stars since I'm ripping it out. 
​
This is the last hat of the year! Next week I'll wrap up with a post on the best and worst hats of the year. 
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Bernat Hats, Scarves and Mittens - 1977

12/3/2022

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This is a post about hats that didn't work. I was definitely in a mood when I pulled this booklet out and started figuring out what I wanted to make. I tried several patterns in this booklet and either they didn't work out well or I was bored with the pattern.
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The booklet has 27 patterns or sets. Two are Tunisian crochet, and another 10 are regular crochet. I tried three of the regular crochet patterns.

I had bulky yarn so I thought I'd try this one:
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So boring.
I think this would have been fine, but I'd already made hats similar to this and it seemed like it was going to be pretty boring. It's a rectangle that you seam up and then gather at the top. Yawn.

On to the next pattern. This one seemed different than the other hats I've done and used bulky yarn and a K hook. 
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Maybe some day with the right yarn, but probably not.
​I started it and somewhere around round four things didn't quite line up. I probably could have figured it out but my patience was low that day and I realized that not only was the pattern frustrating but I also didn't like the yarn I was using for this project. I ripped it out.

For my last try from the booklet, I thought I'd try this cute popcorn hat. I really thought this one would be ok but about a quarter of the through using an E hook with Red Heart Super Saver my hands said nope! 
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popcorn hell
I didn't try any of the other seven crochet hats for various reasons.

This first set are the hats that seemed like they would be really boring to make:
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This second set had several different issues. I didn't have the yarn for the first one. I didn't love the braid on the second one. The third holds together two strands of sport weight yarn and I don't like doing that and I'm not sure I had enough yarn for this hat in that weight.
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​Last is the granny square hat. This didn't look like it fit quite right so I wasn't willing to risk the time, yarn and sewing ends in for it. 
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Next week I will have one last hat and then I'll start wrapping the year of the hat up and planning for next year.
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    I'm from Minnesota and have been crocheting since 2003.  I inherited a box full of Workbasket Magazines from my mother-in-law and became obsessed with the vintage patterns.  

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