Drawing Crochet Symbol Diagrams

Quick tip: When hand drawing crochet symbol diagrams, do not squish one stitch per square on graph paper. Instead, use the height as your guide. If you were drawing out all single crochet, which are short, you could just make them one block tall. For half double crochet, if you chain two then make your rows two blocks tall.  For double crochet, shown above, allow your stitches to be three blocks tall. It's more proportional to the actual project and it's easier to read. 

Crochet Hats Extravaganza!

I have not one but TWO crocheted hats in the new Interweave Crochet e-book "A Step-by-step crocheted hats".  The e-book has full patterns for 5 hats, including my Driftwood Cap and my Chullo Hat and mitts set!  The Driftwood cap is on the cover (above) and the Chullo Hat is shown at right.
These plus 3 more hats are available for $6.99.

Also in the e-book, Interweave writes...
 In Interweave Crochet presents A Step-by-Step Guide to Crocheted Hats, Marty Miller will teach you how to crochet hats based on a simple circle in her piece Circle in on the Perfect Hat. Once you've got the basics of hat construction, you can easily add adornments to basic hats and branch out to explore more hat styles.

A note about the Driftwood cap.  I love it.  Our family loves it. People who have already made it have made it multiple times. It looks great in inexpensive yarn, gourmet yarns, solid yarns, variegated yarns.  We have at least 6 of these in our family. I wear one almost everyday in the winter while we wait for the school bus.  It has the best stretch of any crocheted hat I've ever seen.

Here are some more Driftwood caps we have in our family:

The e-book version of the pattern does not include instructions for the brims. If you want the pattern that has the Driftwood Cap ONLY and the brim (not the other 4 hats), I have just the Driftwood Cap crochet pattern by itself available on my Ravelry store

My Tips for great crocheted hats:
1. Use a warm yarn (wool, alpaca, or a blend)
2. Consider your ears!  (do you like your ears covered or no?)
3. Consider the purpose! (is it to keep you warm or keep you stylish?)
4. Balance holes/lace with warmth
5. MEASURE your head first and make sure you know what size you want before you begin
6. If you work top-down, you can try it on as you go!
7. If you use cotton or a plant fiber it won't "bounce back" into shape as well as an animal fiber would
8. Choose a flattering color, it's going to be near your face after all, so you might as well consider your coloring and eye color.

Crochet education

I love learning.  I have said over and over that when I need crochet inspiration, one of my favorite ways to jump start my creativity is to LEARN SOMETHING. :)  Even if it is a topic or class that I think I already know, there is something about hearing it again from a new teacher, a new perspective that can give me a SPARK of inspiration.

Here's an opportunity to be inspired!  My online class, Crocheting with Beads, might be just what you need to jump-start your creativity. It's more than just the projects in the class... it's the methods or techniques of beading that you can use over and over and apply to any project you want. THAT is FUN!

You can view it on your computer, ask questions, replay, rewind, day or night, forever!
Here's my favorite project from the class....

On the right is my swatch.  I knew I wanted to make a keyhole scarf, so I went in search of stitch patterns where I could incorporate beads AND a keyhole space. I think the keyhole scarf is so popular right now, so you'll see more from me over the next few months. Always, you can eliminate the keyhole rows and just continue in pattern to make a "regular" scarf. When designing with beads, I find it easier to first figure out the stitch pattern and determine where I want the beads to go, calculating approximately how many I'll need and what size, then re- crochet the scarf adding the bling as I go.