Techno Crocheting

My mom taught me to crochet when I was in junior high. For a long time all I managed were uneven squares that had no use and then I tackled an intricate pillow pattern in my Home Ec class. The pattern was confusing and taxing. I don't think I crocheted again until I was married. My mom and aunt had used a certain pattern for crocheting a pretty sweet afgan and so I set out to make my own. It turned out great! From there I made the occasional scarf but was still intimidated to do anything more because I couldn't remember most of the basic "stitches".

Then I discovered Youtube tutorials and Etsy patterns. I chuckle at the thought of my grandma watching me learn and then proceed to crochet things for my family. It's such a different process than it must have been for her!

Firstly, I randomly have the thought after having super hats given to my daughter by a friend (Thanks Shel) that maybe I too could figure out how to crochet a toque. I grab my laptop and go to Etsy to peruse the countless patterns for sale.

I pick a pattern I like, put it in my virtual cart, navigate to Paypal to pay for my purchase and then within an hour a pattern magically shows up in my Email inbox. I didn't have to get off the couch!

I look over the pattern and realize I have no idea what any of the abbreviations mean. No worries, I just google them.

Now I know what the abbreviations mean but I'm not confident that I'm doing them right. Again, not a problem. I just go over to YouTube and watch a video tutorial on each stitch. And so I sit there with my skein of yarn and a crochet needle hunched over my laptop. It just seems so ironic! As a teacher I wonder how the heck anyone learned anything before the Internet! I find it such a miracle that if you want to learn something you can!


I am currently in love with the teal/red colour combination. I wanted a bit lighter blue but this one still worked. The first set of ear flaps in the original patter were super mini and I didn't like them so I just tried single crocheting around them until they were big enough....


What I ended up with were huge half circles that my husband observed made her look like Princess Leia (sp?). So I unraveled and just made up my own pattern and achieved a look I liked.


I also didn't like the little flower in the original patter so I used this video tutorial to make this flower. I wanted something a little more obnoxious :) I highly recommend all of this lady's tutorials. Great quality and easy to follow!



And here she is modeling her new hat. I love it. (Oh, except for that I moved the flower lower.)


And then her bro-star wanted to get in on the photo shoot action so he gave his Hanny Pants some cuddles.


The hat came off and they just cuddled and gave kisses and tickles. They make my heart so happy :)