Brand New! Could use some advice...

[venison]

Hello!

I'm *brand* new to the whole crochet thing--I'm pretty new to knitting too; I've only been going at it for about...a year, maybe. But last weekend my mother introduced me to crochet and, naturally, I can't put it down!

My first "major" project was going to be a simple hat, crocheted in the round, though I'm not sure if "in the round" is what it's called. Anyway, after studying a few patterns, I decided I could try to wing it myself and just start crocheting a circle and finish increasing when it was a good brim size.

I've been using Red Heart yarn (just for practice) and a size G hook. The problem I've been having is that whenever I get to about the fourth or fifth round, I notice that the first round (the one around the slip-stitched chain) puckers up into a cone shape.

No matter what I try, I can't seem to get rid of this weird, triangular point at the top of my hats! I have created and destroyed no less than five "basic beanies" out of frustration. Is there any advice anyone can offer? I tried changing hooks, but this loosens my stitches considerably and I would really like to stick with tighter stitches. Should I start it off on a larger hook and then switch to a smaller? Help!

Thanks a bunch!

Anya

[noejusti]

Hi,
Are you following a pattern? Sometimes typing the pattern in the posting can help us decipher what is going on. You are making a hat from the top down, and sometimes the increases are not correct, so you end up with a tip pointing out at the top. Or perhaps the first round made into the slip stich doesn't have the correct number of stitches. Or perhaps you are doing the first round at a different tension that the rest of the hat and using a different sized hook for the first round before switching to another hook for the next rounds may fix it. You can do two things with it: either finish it and opt for a pompon on top to hide the cone :), or look at some other patterns to see if you can find a similar pattern that you can replace that section with. Also, since your Mom taught you to crochet, ask her to try it and see if she gets the same results that you do. I have had patterns where it just wouldn't work, so I threw out the pattern and searched for a new one. Hope this helps,

V.

[Yarnlady]

Gauge has nothing to do with it. It's the number of sts in each round.

Chain 3 to 5 sts, join into a ring. Chain 2. Do 11 double crochets into ring. Join with the Chain 2. Dblc at the base of the chain 2. Do 2 double crochets in each of the dblc in the previous round, join. you should have 23 dblc and one chain 2 in the second round for a total of 24.

Ch 2, dblc at the base of the ch 2, dblc in the next st. *2 dblc in the next st, 1 dblc in the next st* repeat around, join. There should be 35 dblc and the beginning ch 2 for a total of 36.

This should give you a nice flat circle.

Ch 2, dblc at the base of the ch 1, dblc in next two sts. *2 dblc in the next st, dblc in each of the next 2 sts* repeat around, join. There should be 47 dblc and beginning ch 2 for a total of 48.

You can see a pattern emerging here: 2 dblc, then either 1, 2, etc dblc in each of the next 1, 2, etc sts. As long as you continue adding a dblc between the 2 dblcs you'll have a flat circle.

When you want to start curving down for the hat, just crochet even around the hat, keeping the number of sts the same in each round.

Here (http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/cpatt03.htm) is the pattern written out.

[aprildavis99]

I agree with yarn lady. That pointy tip is caussed by increasing too often. You need to spread the increases out. Yarnlady's pattern is great.
If you crochet a hat using only single crochet stitches, I have learned that most crocheted hats increase on a six point system---dividing the number of stitches on the current round by six. For example start with 6 sc in the round. 6 divided by 6 =1 so you would increase every stitch. The next round would have 12. 12 divided by 6 = 2 so increase every 2nd stitch. If you have 18 stitches on your current round, then you would increase every 3rd stitch (18 divided by 6 = 3) or if the stitches are at 48, then increase every 8th stitch ( 48 divided by 6 = 8). Increase like that until you get the circle as wide as you want, then like Yarnlady said, crochet even (without increases) every round. This makes the circle to turn up into a bowl/hat shape. I hope that makes sense.