Hat Trick

Future me here. Yes, I got too far ahead on my prewritten posts again, so I'll be doubling up until I use up the extra. Golly, I love to write about crochet. :)

The lot I just won with no bidders has already arrived, and among the other delights and surprises it held was a sealed Lion Brand Keppi hat kit.

Here's everything that was in the kit: The instructions, a skein of yarn, a plastic 5.5 mm crochet hook and the pom pom for the top of the hat.

The pattern for the hat was a simply bottom-up design that I had never before tried, so I decided to make it that night. I picked the largest size of hat in the pattern, which I planned to donate to the local church thrift if it turns out wearable.

The skein barfed up a bit of yarn when I tried to find the center pull, but otherwise no issues there.

I did try the plastic crochet hook for one row, but oy. It proved very slippery, and a couple of times I thought I might break it in half (admittedly I am heavy-handed.) I needed something my gnarly fingers can securely grip without snapping in half, so I switched to my ergonomic hook.

The pattern was easy enough, and I thought the results from the variegated, partially textured yarn came out pretty. The sections with the scrubby eyelash yarn proved slightly challenging, as I couldn't see my stitches and had to do everything around those by feel. It just seemed to me like there wasn't enough yarn to make a child-size brimmed hat.

And honestly, there was't. Here's where I got to the point of no return, and had to crochet the finishing row and close the top. There isn't enough finished hat to turn up at the bottom for a brim.

Here's the end result, and the small ball of yarn I had left over. Although it was fun and easy to make, I can see why this kit failed to the point of being discontined. 1) There isn't enough yarn; 2) it only makes a child-size hat which it does not say on the package, and 3) the plastic crochet hook seemed like a nice bonus, until I tried to use it and found it unmanageable. Otherwise, I think the hat is cute, all things considered, and I'm sure some child will enjoy wearing it this winter.