My girl is crazy about My little Pony. She asked me to make her a Pinkie Pie or Rarity hat. This was last year. I have been crocheting since August 2012, so I was new to the whole designing and writing part of crocheting. I had made hats following other designers patterns, but never made one all by myself.
But I wanted to try, to see if I could do it. I started out with the basic hat pattern. There are a lot of different ways to make a basic beanie/ear flap hat. I have tried a couple. I am a loose crocheter and not all patterns suit my style of crochet. So I designed my own basic beanie / ear flap pattern. It has changed over the year, evolved. But my basic hat pattern as it is now, is giving me the right size every time, using the specified yarn. I love to work with Drops, especially Nepal or Alaska. If I use a different yarn, I have to go up or down a size in the pattern to achieve the correct size for the project. It's very important to make a swatch, before you choose what size hat you're making.Gauge is a pain. Every one has their own way of crocheting and their own favorite yarn to work. To write a pattern to give every one the perfect size is impossible. Therefore you have to work with gauge. I didn't do it in the beginning. I found it really hard and frustrating at times. I always used a pattern as a guide, not as a step by step building plan. I tweak it so it works for me. But now, my patterns are getting more known, I have to succumb to the pressures of gauge hahaha
