Momma Hat!

Call me jealous.  I wanted a crocheted hat, too!  I've made so many baby hats, perhaps I was a bit cocky on my hat skills, but at least it turned out well enough to fit on my head.  I won't say where I got the pattern from (it's on ETSY) simply because I have several beefs with the pattern.

It looks so harmless sitting on the counter.  Like it couldn't leap up and strangle me at any second.

1.  It starts from the bottom up.  I find that hats look much nicer when they start from the top down.  I don't know why, but I've made enough hats to know this.
2.  NO STITCH COUNTS.  I got one count.  That was the chain for the first row.  From then on?  Not one.  Now, I guess if I was better at math, I could go ahead and do all this myself prep-wise.  But I didn't.  It doesn't really matter on the parts that don't decrease, but when you start decreasing, and it's just, skip this many stitches all the way around... why don't you tell me how many I should have?  Just so I'm sure.  Every other pattern has that!
3.  Reverse crochet/triple crochet... should be enough said, but if I'm speaking Greek to some of you, well, the pattern was speaking Greek to me, too!  I had to keep getting on youtube to watch tutorials on these stitches, but since they weren't normal (like, reverse, but only in one side of the stitch... which side?  Hell if I know).  I figured it out by ripping out a lot of stitches.  I'd try one way, then the other, than decide which was correct.  Luckily, the step was repeated a ton of times, so once I had it figured out, it made the rest pretty simple. 

All in all, I made the hat, it looks okay, and it's warm.  I'm NOT happy with this pattern at all.  For a long time I wasn't sure it would turn into a hat at all, and all the confusing directions were meant to keep you from finishing it and thus figuring out the pattern was a complete sham.  I mean, I can crochet.  I can read patterns... why does it have to be made harder?

In Soviet Russia, HAT wears YOU!

And I think I look like a bad Russian stereotype in it.  Although Matt thinks it's cute.  And it's comfortable and warm, so on my coldest days, I don't mind.  Don't think I'll be making THIS hat, or any hat for ME in the near future.  I need to forget this experience!