Tunisian Crochet - A Tale of the Hat

I've made the All American hat from the 1960s Hats Bucket, Flower and Brimmed Hat plus 2 Purses - 5 Crochet patterns before - several of them in fact. But, the first time I made it, I didn't realize that the afghan stitch was Tunisian or Tapestry crochet. With the second one I made, I figured out that there was a difference between crochet and Tunisian crochet but the adjustments I made to the pattern were to make it a little more fitted and the fabric more dense.

This time around, I got a wild hair and decided to try my hand at Tunisian crochet/afghan stitch. I had to buy a hook in order to start the project. You know how it is when you get a wild hair! You have to start now, and there's no time to wait for an online order to be delivered. The big box stores do not carry double ended crochet hooks or Tunisian crochet hooks - sets or singles. On a whim I ended up at a little local fabric store that has one spinner that holds all of their knitting and crochet supplies. They had a double ended hook. I was in business!

Close-up of the stitch patterns.

I went with the blue yarns because they were in my stash. I used two colors to make it easy to tell which direction I was supposed to be working. The lighter (more royal) blue is the main color that I worked the forward stitches with. The darker blue was used for the return pass.

I watched a lot of videos on Tunisian crochet in the round. The one I found most helpful were from the Stitch Diva tutorials. She has a wealth of information on her website. Also helpful and informative were the following: Tunisian Crochet sampler & stitch dictionary at AmbassadorCrochet.com and the stitch guide at tuncro.blogspot.com.

Happy crocheting!

A Hat from My Stash Yarn - That's How Started, Anyway

When Alison showed me the picture of these three hats, from this pattern, I knew I had to make one or two of them. The one in the center was just so dang cute - it had to be my first project from the pattern. The only caveat for making these hats was that the yarn has to come from my stash. I am not buying any new yarn. I have full and partial skeins galore. More yarn than I will ever make into hats to wear or to sell, even if I live to be 150 years old. That's how it started, anyway.

The pattern calls for a straw-like yarn,
which is difficult to find and expensive.

We had to go to a craft store to get supplies for a middle school project. I happened to notice that they had yarn on sale. We decided to get a skein of yarn to donate to his leadership class - they are learning to crochet in order to make squares for an afghan or two to donate to a local organization. Since we were buying a skein for school, I decided I would get one for myself as well. So I have a pretty summer green hat. So much for using up my yarn stash.

This is the easy version of the All-American hat. I decided not to do the loops on this hat since I'm not much of a loop-wearing gal. The color of the hat in the top is closest to the actual color.

So these cute little hats are crocheted. Great, that means fast and easy. The picture shows a fun brimmed hat. That's the beginner level of the hat. The advanced level features a crown made of looped crochets. I wanted to make the looped crochet crown, but I didn't have enough of the grey yarn. Those little loops eat up a lot of yarn.

I started the looped crown, just to see what it would look like. I didn't have enough yarn to finish, so I took these pics then ripped it out and going work to the beginning level hat. The crown is made of non-looped crochet fabric. Then we went to the craft store, and I found my green yarn. And the dark grey yarn was no longer a great fit for the pattern.

There are a bunch of different methods to make the crocheted loops. I used this video to see how to make the loop stitch.

Close-up of the pattern stitches.

I had hoped to use my stash. But I love this kicky spring color. You can find the pattern in our store.

Happy crocheting!