One morning in early fall 2014, I decided it was time I learned how to crochet and knit.  I found some wonderful knitting and crocheting for dummies websites, picked up some yarn and a few needles, and got to work.  My first attempt was just to learn how to crochet a bit and learn some stitches.  I had heard that crocheting was easier.  My first was a simple ring, for fun:


Having mastered some basic stitches, I moved on to a bracelet with lots of crazy stitches, including a scalloped edge:


  
I was happy to have learned this when a few months later I needed a gift for my cousin’s nephew and was able to make him a hat.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of said hat.

I started to get ambitious when I began knitting.  With my confidence bolstered by my success in crocheting, I decided to make my daughter a knit hat, in the style of one of her existing hats that was getting too small.


I started by trying to knit the ear flaps.  I didn’t have a pattern, just looked up stitches and tried to figure out what would work.  This ear flap I took out at least 20 times…  So frustrating!  Once I got stuck so tightly that I needed help by someone who actually knew what they were doing to get it apart so I could try again.  I remember starting from a straight line and then reducing, which is what you see above, but the best success came when I started with only a few stitches and expanded upward.  The completed hat (after being worn for a few years) is below.


 It’s lined with fleece.  Neither the design, nor the colours, nor yarn, nor the polar fleece lining is period, but it was my first project, and I learned a lot.  I went on to make a fleece-lined, matching scarf, and a scarf for my cousin.  I started a toque for myself, but have yet to finish.  Attached below is the pattern and write-up of what I did for the knit hat, so that I can go back to it in the future.