What the heck am I doing wrong?

[TMKA]

I'm trying to make this hat:

 

http://www.woollywormhead.co.uk/userimages/PHexCrochetNEWInfo.jpg

 

The pattern is here:

 

http://www.woollywormhead.co.uk/userimages/WW015FHexHatCrochet.pdf

 

And it's not that difficult to understand--just hexagonal motifs, joined fairly simply. It looks like something I can easily manage. I'm using a light worsted yarn (which the site says should correspond to DK weight) and I've tried at least six different sizes of hooks, but I'm yet to complete a single hexagon--because every time I get out to the fourth row, the danged thing isn't flat anymore! It's downright ruffly!

 

What am I doing wrong? I've tried loosening and tightening my stitches. I've tried many different hook sizes with the same yarn, and many different hook sizes with a different weight of yarn. Obviously, with some of those yarn/hook combos, my gauge is off, but right now I don't care as much about gauge as I care about getting a flat motif! I can get the right gauge with the hook and yarn from the pattern, but it's always ruffly. I swear, my counts are dead on, and I'm doing them just like the pattern says.

 

Help!

[dorothysgirls]

Have you tried to press the hexagons. I read thought the pattern and it says to press with a damp cloth before assembly. This may be the problem. It is a very cute hat and I hope that you get it figured out. I would love to see it finished!!

[TMKA]

No, but these aren't SLIGHTLY ruffly, they're SERIOUSLY ruffly. I can't imagine a world in which I could press this into flat-ness. I can, however, imagine a world where they would make a lovely, ruffly trim for a skirt.

 

And the hats in the picture are made with wool--I should not that I'm not using wool. But it seems to me that if the weight I'm using is the same or similar, and my gauge is right, I should be OK, shoudln't I?

 

I just don't get it. I can make flat granny squares all day long--flat afghans, flat dishcloths, no problem. But I can't get this to come out flat! It's making me crazy! If I could get to a point where they're just kind of wavy, they could easily be pressed into shape. These are so deformed, they couldn't be.

[LavenderRose]

How many chains are you putting between your dc's? Most hexagons only get two chains in the space.

[magiccrochetfan]

this may sound dumb, but is based on my own experience with forgetting parts of directions, so please bear with me---The pattern is in UK terms, not US terms so the stitches are different. If you're doing US trebles instead of doubles that could make it grow too much. I know that is probably not what you're doing, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

[kookaloo_starr]

That's just what I was thinking. Even though I'm a Brit I get confused by British patterns as I taught myself crochet via US sites

[darski]

If you look at the picture of the hat, hers are seriously ruffly as well.

 

 

edited to add... I would not put any ch stitches between the stitches other than at the corner and there it would be no more than a ch 2. I never put any chains between my clusters in any granny

[TMKA]

this may sound dumb, but is based on my own experience with forgetting parts of directions, so please bear with me---The pattern is in UK terms, not US terms so the stitches are different. If you're doing US trebles instead of doubles that could make it grow too much. I know that is probably not what you're doing, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

 

That's just what I was thinking. Even though I'm a Brit I get confused by British patterns as I taught myself crochet via US sites

 

No, I thought that myself at first. So much so that I went through the whole pattern and "translated" it from UK to US--and when the problems persisted, I re-translated it and got the same thing I did the first time. I'm pretty sure I've got that right.

 

But, thanks....really, I'm at a major loss here, so any advice is worth taking!

 

If you look at the picture of the hat, hers are seriously ruffly as well.

 

 

edited to add... I would not put any ch stitches between the stitches other than at the corner and there it would be no more than a ch 2. I never put any chains between my clusters in any granny

 

Yeah, and if I bend mine in half like on the edges of her hat, they have the nice bend at the edge, just like in the picture--and then the front and the back wave like the ocean. Maybe I need to take a picture and post it, but my distortion is not the same as what the pattern "requires". These are extreme.

 

The pattern calls for two chains between the clusters to the corner--and then two chains between the corner clusters....but maybe I need to try reducing the number between the corners/clusters. Hmmm....it's something to try anyway! Thanks!

[TMKA]

How many chains are you putting between your dc's? Most hexagons only get two chains in the space.

 

Two, just like the pattern says. I thought I might have been doing three or some weird number, so the first time I frogged it, I counted VEEEERY carefully. It's still ridiculously wavy.

[darski]

Why not just go and get a pattern that you like and use it in the same configuration as that one?

 

http://www.crochetcabana.com/shapes/hexagon.htm

 

Sandi is always good at teaching the way to go.

[magiccrochetfan]

Why not just go and get a pattern that you like and use it in the same configuration as that one?

Sounds like a good idea at this point!

 

In the pattern i didn't see where a cluster is really defined, and it seems like "cluster" is not always the same in different patterns. Are you holding the last loop of each stitch back on the hook and then working them off as one stitch?

[TMKA]

Why not just go and get a pattern that you like and use it in the same configuration as that one?

 

http://www.crochetcabana.com/shapes/hexagon.htm

 

Sandi is always good at teaching the way to go.

 

That might just be the thing to do, here. Sandi's starts out very similarly, but I can already see some changes that might influence the waviness factor.

 

Thanks!

[TMKA]

In the pattern i didn't see where a cluster is really defined, and it seems like "cluster" is not always the same in different patterns. Are you holding the last loop of each stitch back on the hook and then working them off as one stitch?

 

No, I'm not. It seemed to me that they just wanted three stitches, then two chains, three stitches, etc.

 

I'm going to try what you just posted. It hadn't occurred to me that they wanted any other sort of clustering!

 

Thanks! I've got a few things to try now!

[acraftylady]

There is one here called the Joane Peter's hat and the granny square hat that are similar to what you want, maybe it would work better. When I first tried hats I had great success with the patterns from this site. Mary

 

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/patterns.htm