Why Am I So Utterly Useless at Hats?

[Hello Again]

I think I'm hat-impaired. I've made projects that were LOTS more complicated than a hat yet my hats are always... wrong. Lumpy. Strangely tiny. Strangely huge. Doesn't matter if I follow a pattern or not.

 

Hats hate me! Anyone else have a block against a particular project?

[Riohnna]

I have trouble with vests. I hadn't tried them in years,,,,,and I really am wanting to make a few. I am hoping that after I get all of my little projects out of the way,,,I will have better luck at one.

[cgd]

I feel your pain. I'm trying to break into garments, so I made a modular sweater. Turned out mostly OK, but there's a honkin' hole right on the left boob!! But I'm gonna keep trying.

 

As for hats, I have to focus on them when doing them, which isn't easy for the spaceheaded person I naturally am. If I don't keep strict count of stitches and rounds, they won't turn out right. They usually end up OK, but after some frogging, redoing, and groaning.

[christinascrochethaven]

www.crochetcabana.com has great tutorials with pictures on working in the round and hats. It sometimes helps to have pictures with instructions.

 

I started making round dishcloths and they came out so funny. Then I kept trying and trying and was able to finally get them right. From there I learned hats and baskets and other round things. Now I can do hats in my sleep without patterns.

 

The hardest thing that I'm trying to master is decreasing for V-necks and for arms in garments. Decreasing is still hard, but I'm working up to it.

 

Practice, practice, practice....Practice really does make perfect.

 

www.yarncat.com has some really great basic hats.

 

I have a hat pattern that is very simple. Many people have written me and said that it taught them how to do hats.

http://www.christinascrochethaven.com/warm_winter_hat.htm

[Hello Again]

Heh. I have worked extensively in the round on much more complex projects... That's whats so silly.

 

How come I can do this:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/revemari/ruthsrug_1.jpg

 

But not make a hat!? I will try your pattern though... hope springs eternal.

[Deb06]

I have the same problems, hats run my bp up (lol). Joining/sl seems to be my main issue. Can't get past that to figure out what other problems I may have and I've read the tutorials and just can't get my eyes to see what they're supposed to be seeing I guess. I keep hoping that someday the good Lord is going to send me a local crochet mentor/friend.

 

Christina, is your hat pattern worked in the back/front loops or both, or does it matter? Thanks!

[Sylviaf]

I agree; hats stump me, too.

[christinascrochethaven]

I have the same problems, hats run my bp up (lol). Joining/sl seems to be my main issue. Can't get past that to figure out what other problems I may have and I've read the tutorials and just can't get my eyes to see what they're supposed to be seeing I guess. I keep hoping that someday the good Lord is going to send me a local crochet mentor/friend.

 

Christina, is your hat pattern worked in the back/front loops or both, or does it matter? Thanks!

 

Both loops.... fast and simple.

[Charm]

my last hat looked like a lumpy christmas stocking lol

[christinascrochethaven]

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?p=576890#post576890

 

I started a Crochet Along with my hat pattern for anyone that wants to learn how or just want to make hats.

 

I can take pictures of the steps if anyone is interested me. Let me know.

[funkyreporter]

My hats stink too. I made a pretty cape with Simply Soft and wanted to make a matching hat and arm warmers... the hat is terrible.

 

Made my son a hat for snowboarding... too big.

 

Made my daughter a hat... too lumpy.

 

Hats like me.

[butterfly_girl]

Hey! Ok, I've had problems with hats too. I just had to find the right pattern. Let's see. I've had good results with the "Professional hat" and hmm, what others. a newsboy hat, some of the hats in the crochet pattern a day calendar. But I find some hats by certain designers I can't make heads or tails of. Sometimes a hat will turn out realy small, and seem like it's for a baby, even though in the picture it's an adult hat, or turn out way too big!

 

I think after you've made circle things for awhile, then you get the hang of the general increases, etc.

 

http://www.yarncat.com/newsboy_cappatt.html

 

http://www.crochetme.com/the-professional

 

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21665

 

http://bythehook.blogdrive.com/archive/204.html

 

These are some hats i've had some luck with. maybe they will work for you.....

 

:-)

[fiddleyarn]

Deb06 wrote: Joining/sl seems to be my main issue. Can't get past that to figure out what other problems I may have

 

I do hats in SC or HDC and don't join the rounds. I do mark the beginning of a round with a safety pin so I get the number of incrreases required for each round. When the top part of the hat is big enough for the person's head, I just crochet until it's long enough. There's a tiny jog at the end when you haven't been joining rounds. I just do a couple slip stitches before ending off. Works for me. Alice

[KellyA]

Is the problem that with increasing in the round or ???

I know of some patterns that are worked back and forth and then joined to make a tube, then you close off one end.

 

http://home.att.net/~susanBinKC/patterns/ribcap.html

 

I know there have been many suggestions listed so far but why not put one more our there?

Best of luck and I hope something works for you.

[Shellybrook]

I don't have a problem with hats...I got a pattern for the increase from somebody here on the ville...I made a few hats with this pattern,,,,mind you I don't follow patterns exactly, but for the most part...I did great with the concept.

 

OHHHH...I had one exception...I thought I could make a "santa" hat...I started at the top. I ended up with what resembled a...well...how do you say it....uh..."reserviour tip"...if you know what I mean....but other than that hat problem...

 

 

...I have tension issues...I really have to strive to be in the same mood when i pick up a project as I was when I put it down.

[lysebab]

[Maybe when doing a hat pattern use safety pins at the ending of each round. This will help with the count st. Instead of trying to count up to a certain number in remember to ex: sc in 6 sc, then two in next. The safety pins at each round would help you to know where you need to stop. So you would ex: sc in three then 2sc in next then repeat 5 more times. You would be going in rounds of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on with 2 sc in next. this seems to work and I don't have to be bothered in counting up to 36 and remembering at the same time what st count am on or how many I've stiched so far. My hats has always came out perfect with the safety pin trick.]

 

Heh. I have worked extensively in the round on much more complex projects... That's whats so silly.

 

How come I can do this:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/revemari/ruthsrug_1.jpg

 

But not make a hat!? I will try your pattern though... hope springs eternal.

[CroJulee]

I think I'm hat-impaired. I've made projects that were LOTS more complicated than a hat yet my hats are always... wrong. Lumpy. Strangely tiny. Strangely huge. Doesn't matter if I follow a pattern or not.

 

Hats hate me! Anyone else have a block against a particular project?

 

 

Try this hat pattern. You can read some of the responses. It's a warmer pattern. Rather fast. http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38728

[Auntie Kellie]

Don't worry HA, I'm hat impaired as well but only if I'm working from the top down. I have no problem if I'm working from the brim to the center. You'll find a hat pattern that works for you sooner or later.

 

Hugs and Cookies

Auntie K

[Mattteri]

I myself am hat impaired! There, I have said it!! I have frogged so many hats that I have lost count!! I have read the tutitorials, made the hats and looked at them and wondered, What is this??? So I feel your pain!

[tbird]

I first learned how to crochet when I was a child, but "dropped out" for many years (decades? ugh). When I decided to pick it back up, I decided to start by making a hat or two, because they were relatively quick.

 

Boy oh boy, was that a practice in patience. The cycle went something like this:

 

1) Find cool relatively easy looking pattern

2) Spend 2-3 hours working on pattern

3) Discover something was *really* screwed up -- presumably with my ability to read the pattern, they can't *all* have been that bad -- and that the thing I was making bore no resemblance to a hat

4) Frog, frog, frog

 

I must have done this pretty much every weeknight for three weeks in a row. My DH was amazed at my stubbornness in not just giving up, but since I was using indestructible acrylic yarn, I could repeat the exercise over and over again, and I just wouldn't give up.

 

Finally, I found a pattern called "Sweetness" on the By The Hook blog, and it worked. It created a darling little hat, and somehow got me over that mental block.

 

So my advice is, pick indestructible yarn and don't give up!

 

[This is similar to my experience in learning one particular belly dance step, something known at least in the Midwest as a three-quarter shimmy. Some folks get it really quickly, but I wasn't one of them. I spent a couple of hours every night of the week in front of the mirror in my dance studio, doing the movements really really slowly, and getting really frustrated with myself...until one evening I walked into class and my teacher made some comment about doing it and then it just CLICKED. I've not been dancing regularly for a few years now, but I can still do three-quarter shimmy without even thinking about it. Practice, practice, practice...just make sure that you enjoy whatever it is so much that you even enjoy it when you're not quite "getting it"!!!]

[BlondieeAggiee]

I recently became hat impaired. I used to make hats all the time. Now when I try to make a hat, it doesn't form. It stays flat instead of bowling out. I give.