Last week, a customer on Etsy messaged me with a couple of questions about my Shorty B pattern.  It's my only kufi pattern, and he wanted to know if it works with worsted yarn (yes!) and if there are different styles included (no, just the one shown in the photos).

I let him know that you can use practically any regular beanie pattern to make a kufi.  Just end the hat at about 6 inches (some people prefer 5 or 5 1/2 inches) and finish with single crochet to stabilize the bottom edge.

The same goes for the popular docker hat or fisherman beanie (the ear-baring Jacques Cousteau-style hat).  To create one, you could make a regular beanie (about 8 or 8 1/2 inches from the center) and turn up the brim about 2 inches.  Voilà! A sea-worthy cap!

I let my customer know that I appreciated his questions about kufis (he ended up buying a regular beanie pattern and making his kufi from it), and that I would share the kufi info on my blog.

Just doing my bit in getting the kufi love out there!  Such a flattering style of hat!

Need a basic, easy-to-make, easy-to-wear beanie?

The Boring Bloke Beanie to the rescue!

It's a crochet pattern for a classic beanie made with DK-weight yarn.  (Lighter weight and thus perfect for stuffing into a coat pocket and taking it out when needed.)

I got the idea for the pattern name when I read an article on the annual Beanie Festival in Alice Springs, Australia, where you can buy everything from elaborate sculptural hat masterpieces to a "boring bloke's beanie."

Even if you're not a bloke, sometimes a minimalist hat is the perfect choice.

Just released, the pattern is now available in my Ravelry store here, and in my Etsy shop here.

Recently I ordered yarn from Wool Warehouse, which is in the U.K.  I got this giant ball of wool-blend tweed in the colorway Scree.  

This sample for my just-released Bobblelini pattern barely made a dent in the as-big-as-your-head 400-gram ball. (I have 347 grams of yarn left.)

Since I'm primarily a hatmaker, I don't really need 
huge yardage of a specific yarn.  I tend to get only hat quantities of a yarn, 1 or 2 skeins.  Variety over volume.

However, there's something to be said for a big ball of yarn!  For instance, I wouldn't hesitate to make a
l-o-n-g roll-up brim on a hat, confident that I won't run out of yarn before I finish.  How comforting to know that there will always -- always! -- be enough yarn to make a pom-pom, and not a skimpy one at that.

And, when you're using a giant ball of yarn, you're never playing yarn chicken, worrying about running out of yarn before you run out of rows.  A very good thing.

Here are the yarn specs: Wendy with Wool Aran Tweed is 20 percent wool, 77 percent acrylic and 3 percent viscose.  It's lovely, tweedy and soft -- plus machine washable and dryable.

​P.S. My Bobblelini pattern is also available on Etsy here.  The link near the top is for my Ravelry store.

Yarns under consideration for a new -- and colorful! -- beanie design.  All are chunky weight except for the yellow, which is super bulky.  The main color will be the plum, which does not look especially plum on my monitor, alas.  It's much more delicious in real life.

The yellow super bulky is for a statement pom-pom, and the other colors are for narrow stripes.

Anyway, that's the plan.  Could be terrific.  Could be eyeball-searing.  We'll see.
​

With temperatures hovering near 80 degrees, it's definitely time to put away winter accessories -- the hats, the gloves, the scarves.

This beautiful scarf was crocheted by Mary Martinez, my Secret Santa in the San Antonio Crochet Guild.  (I lived in Texas until 2017.) A lovely gift that got a lot of wear -- and compliments! -- this year.  So colorful!

Putting away winter woolies reminds me of my mother and her faith in mothballs.  Each fall when I was in elementary school, our wool clothes would come out of storage, reeking of naphthalene.  Then my mother would hang the garments outside on the clothesline to "air out." 

Did a whiff of mothballs follow me around the school playground? I'm not sure.  But it's true that moths never made a meal of my sweaters and skirts. 

Mothballs have fallen out of favor due to their toxicity.  I think that as long as the stored woolen items are clean, moths won't nibble on them. 

​What do you think?   

I guess I'm on a roll.  ; )

This is the second hat in a row that I've published with a rolled brim.  An easy-to-make rolled brim at that.

The roll in this pattern -- Pixie(ish) -- and in its recent predecessor -- Pop-Dots -- is created by using a crochet hook that's 1 mm bigger than the gauge hook.  In Pixie(ish), I used a 5mm hook for the hat body and a 6mm hook for the brim.

My friend Lois showed me this cool technique.  You can also create a rolled brim in crochet with front-post single crochet stitches for a slightly different look.

Just published, Pixie(ish) is available on Ravelry and Etsy with a 50 percent discount until Dec. 31.  On Ravelry, use the code PIXIE to get the discount.

This pattern was written and tested seven(!) years ago, and each holiday season, I'd think, "Now's a good time to publish Pop-Dots!"

But it never happened.  Holidays, right?

Until now.

I like to think that the delay was a good thing and that my timing is perfect.  I'm using a new photo editor, and my tutorial -- on how to attach the Pop-Dots as you crochet -- benefits greatly from the resulting crisp images.

So I ask, can procrastination be your friend? 
(a) Often. 
(b) Occasionally.
(c) Never. 
(d) Let me get back to you on that.

I'm working on new designs, and I'm eager to share them with you in the upcoming months. 

The beanie, above, illustrates a few of my new faves:

* Combining a strand of mohair/silk laceweight with a DK yarn to equal a worsted weight.  The mohair adds warmth as well as a gorgeous halo.

* Reversibility.  Hats with different textures on both sides.  The Not-So-Chunky Guy Beanie, left, published in 2022, is an example.  

* Short-ish hats. They go by many names: docker cap, fisherman hat, kufi, skull cap.  I think this length -- about 6 in./15 cm -- is really flattering, and the hats are quick to make. 

Here's to hats, health and happiness in the new year!

At my library, I'm #68 on the wait list for Michelle Obama's new book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.

I'm glad I didn't wait until today to request the book: There are now more than 100 people on the list!

One of the topics in the book is the former first lady's new hobby that was a source of joy and comfort during the pandemic: Knitting.

This week I've enjoyed seeing some of her knitting WIPs and FOs (works-in-progress and finished objects) that she's shared during TV interviews on her book.

​Inspiring!

My Red Heart Super Saver Neon Stripes yarn was working up
with overly broad stripes ​of black
​in this beret.