Crocheted Cowboy Hat

I have received some requests for the pattern for the Cowboy Hat I crocheted and showed fotos of on this blog. To all who have requested the pattern, and those who don't know it yet, but will in the future, it is not my original pattern, so I cannot send it to you. However, I will direct you to the source which is Debbie Stoller's book "The Happy Hooker." The pattern turns out a hat that is a bit larger than expected. What I did was decrease right before the cluster rows. You can also decrease during or after the cluster rows, but that is a bit harder. It is not an easy pattern, but a fun challenge for crocheters. I wrote out in large type the instructions for the cluster. If you make the last row of the clusters a different color, it looks as if you have a hat band on it. If you make it would you e-mail a foto of it? I would like to add it to my blog. I have already received requests to crochet this for others. One woman offered me $100. to make a black one for her. It's a great challenging project -- just remember to try it on when you reach the cluster rows. You could also use a smaller crochet hook. My main e-mail is calumet133@yahoo.com. Would luv to hear from you.

Crocheted Cowboy Hat

Yahoo! Here it is! I finished crocheting the cowboy hat. The pattern

was not easy. Since it is hard crochet it is done with two strands of yarn. I wore it once and already was asked to make one for someone else who is willing to pay for it. It was really a challenge but once I got past the crown I enjoyed it. it is definitely fun wearing it. However, where does one wear a Pink Cowboy Hat? I don't go to to rodeos; I don't live in the West; I don't ride horses. It is definitely an eye catcher though. I guess whenever I want a little extra attention, I'll wear it. I splurged and bought a pink bolo to match. I already had the shiny pink shirt. the actual stitching is not as perfect as I would like it to be -- but when I started it, it was only to learn the pattern well enuf to be able to help Mary who really wants to make one for Country Thunder. There is an imperfection near the brim of the hat, so I found a cowgirl angel pin and put it right over that spot. Anyway I'll wear it whenever I feel pink-ish. Fun!

DOUBT aka Crochety Crocheter

Mary, one of my crochet students, attends Country Thunder every year. This involves camping out and a lot of country western themed activities. When I came across a pattern for a cowboy hat, I just knew it was meant for Mary. I saw that the pattern was not for a beginner like Mary, but just knew how much she would like to wear a cowboy hat which she crocheted for herself to Country Thunder. The pattern was complex. However, I, wearing my own imaginary Wizard in Teaching Crochet" hat figured I (that's a capital "I") could teach her. While I know my crocheting skills are good, I also know that they pale in comparison to the skills of Gwenn and Marge and BJ at the crochet guild. However, when it comes to TEACHING -- well I say from on top of my WIZARDry Stool, ( where I am ignorantly precariously perched,)" I can teach anybody to crochet anything." Hah!

When Mary started crocheting the hat, under my "expert" tutelage (Hah again), it didn't go so well. After the first so-called lesson, I took the pattern home and tried to crochet at least the first few rounds so that I could show Mary how to do it.
"There's something wrong with this pattern. I'm sure this pattern wasn't tested before it was published. This is too complex. I could do a better job of writing this pattern. There are mistakes in the way it is written." and so on, and so on, I told Mary, who listens to her crochet guru!!!
Mary keeps plodding away and doing some frogging under my expert tutelage using a "BAD PATTERN." I, too, crochet, frog, crochet, frog so many times, saying bad words until I begin to DOUBT not the pattern this time but me. With the help of Mary and Donna who each hold a ball of pink yarn, (this is a two strands together pattern) and roll the yarn back into the ball while I rip out the stitches, this time to the very first slip knot. The expert crochet teacher has alas and alack become the crochety crocheter!
In the quiet of my recliner, with the TV turned off, I try once more from the very beginning - and low and behold, the pattern works! Complex, yes! Wrong, no!
I type out the pattern for Mary, eliminating the abbreviations which she finds confusing, and add a few words of explanation in RED type, and we start over again.
I guess the moral of this story -- is to SHUT-UP about the pattern, and stay off high perches of Wizardry. Granted some patterns are poorly written, but more are even poorly interpreted. And I am -- your not so wizardry Dorothy who is clicking her heels and returning to KANSAS.
Don't give up Mary! I may not be wizardry nor the expert crocheter of my dreams, but I don't give up. You will crochet your cowboy hat, and I will crochet mine, and Iwill take pictures of you wearing yours and publish it on this very own blog (I hope). : >}