A stack of crocheted hats...

A stack of crocheted hats...

---Is what I worked on this week.  I finished an identical pair for a friend of mine, and I think they are adorable.  The yarn is Red Heart With Love in Fruit Punch.

I used THIS pattern from  Valerie Whitten .  I think it worked up really nicely.  Each has a button on the left and a flower on the right.

I embellished them with a flower motif from Suzann Thompson's Crochet Bouquet book - The Sweetheart Rose pattern.  There's so many flower patterns in the this book it was hard to pick.

I think it was a highly successful venture.  The hats worked up really quickly, and the flowers were simple enough too.

On the other hand...

I also was testing out a new to me pattern for another friend.  OH, how I wish I had taken pictures of the first end result.   But I had a foot and a half long sock looking hat when I was done and didn't know why, and honestly, it was terrible. Hilarious, but terrible. It was immediately frogged. Partially just because I like my yarn ball winder so much, and don't get much cause to use it.

So since that was a fail, I attempted it again the next night.  I reread the directions, checked my yarn, my hooks...You see, I didn't realize the pattern was in UK crochet terms, not US terms, until the next day.  So this time, I made the wise decision of ignoring the UK/US differences, thinking it would be different but fine. Not so much!  Now I have a hat that maybe wouldn't cover the Jolly Green Giant's eyes.  It is ridiculously massive.  Actually here, let me go take a ridiculously embarrassing picture for you.

Seriously. How did I think THAT was going to turn out?

Surely we all make these mistakes right?  So that was two frustrating nights of yarning down the drain, but I suppose I got something out of it -

Don't try to outsmart your directions if you are looking for a functional and correctly sized finished product.  Lesson learned.  But at least for my week I got a couple of really cute hats to show for it. :)  I did follow THOSE directions.

I'm just going to try again.  It's just this week's battle, I think.

Have a great weekend!