I can't make anything look right!

[pememily]

I've been trying to crochet a hat for months now.  I have been following a video on youtube, and the pattern is one that starts the hat from the bottom.  No matter how many times I start over, I keep getting this weird octopus looking thing early on where the edges all curl outward.  Why is it expanding like that?  I've been careful to not add too many stitches in.  Since I'm working toward the top, the last thing I want is for the hat to become wider as I go!

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

You are right, the last thing you want is for the hat to get wider from the beginning point, unless it's for a beret.  So when you say 'I've been careful not to add too many stitches'...why are you adding any?     I don't mean to wiggle my finger at you, I'm just a bit confused and trying to trouble-shoot.

Are you brand new to crochet? If so, there are a LOT of ghastly videos and equally awful self-published written patterns out there, we see a lot of questions from unimaginably poorly written patterns in the help section here.  If you have been working on the same pattern 'for months', it might be time to find another pattern.  I don't mean to scare you off, there are lots of wonderful and fun patterns out there too, or I wouldn't still be at it.  

Could you link to the video?  And, do you have a way of posting a photo of your 'octopus'?  We might be able to find another pattern whose end product looks like the one you are trying to follow but might 'click' better for you, or by seeing your piece we might be able to spot something and say 'see what you did at the the 5 minute point of the video pattern, you zigged but she said to zag' or whatever.

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Granny Square

[Horsy]

 there are a LOT of ghastly videos and equally awful self-published written patterns out there,

NO kidding!!  I was well into a cardigan pattern found on ravelry, and after it was half done - in sock yarn, yet - I realized that the front and back were different lengths and it would not look right. A commenter on ravelry noted the same thing.  Dozens of hours of work shot to helll.  Oh, well.  I've since found and begun a more professionally designed winter cardigan. 

You really have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find  your prince.  In this case - a properly designed, tested, and written out pattern.  

About the "octopus" hat - I wouldn't say too much one way or another unless I'd seen a photo of what it is designed to look like.  Who knows...

Edited May 22, 2020 by Horsy

[Granny Square]

  Ha ha on the frog comment, spot on!

Interesting point, I was thinking 'more or less basic watch-cap/beanie sort of hat' because the OP said it was expanding and wasn't supposed to, but who knows.