A lot of people won’t crochet in the summer because they claim it’s too hot. I think that I naturally gravitate to crochet because in the past if I wanted to sew I had to do so in the sauna (my upstairs). It also helps that I do all of my crocheting in our family room, which happens to be the coldest room in the house when the A.C. is running.

(Wow, that stand is NOT that neat any more… lol)

After working on a lot of baby items I decided that I wanted to make something for myself. Also, I’d had some yarn sitting around for a year that I had specifically reserved for a project. After a lot of searching and considering I decided on the Delta Lace Topper by Karen Whooley. It was in a special issue put out by Crochet! Magazine in October 2019. I just did a quick search, but couldn’t find the pattern online.

Addie is modeling it for me. It’s a very open-weave poncho. The picture in the magazine shows a MUCH more open weave, but the only way I can figure they were able to do that is by blocking it. You were only suppose to do something like 25 rounds before doing the border, but I ended up doing almost twice that much. I’m not going to block it after I wash it every time and I wanted to make sure it would be long enough if I were to take it out of the dryer and put it on.

I still have to weave in the ends. The points on this poncho are worn at your sides so I’m holding it out to show you the width of the one side. I also did a different collar. The pattern has you do almost a cowl-like collar that you then sew onto the body. I did not want that much bulk around my neck so instead I did a simple edge that ends with a reverse single crochet stitch. I like it. This will be great for the transition time between summer and fall when the mornings are a bit crisp, but the afternoons are too warm to wear a full sweater.

Even though I said I was done making baby things, I did make some wash cloths for the baby who is due to arrive in a little over a month.

Just a head’s up… I haven’t woven in any of my ends on any of these projects. So ignore the dangling bits.

I used the Premier Cotton Faire that I discussed in my Ice Yarns haul post. I like this yarn. It’s easy to work with and is very soft. I think that I’ll end up purchasing the Alara from Ice Yarns, though, in the future. One ball of this yarn made nine wash cloths.

The pattern is a purchased pattern on Creative Grandma‘s website.

Finally, I have a couple of hats to show you.

These are #16 and 17.

They are a little bigger and a bit slouchier. I had made quite a few of the beanie-style and thought that some guys might not like to wear something so fitted. I know that Jay wouldn’t like the beanie hats.

The camera washed this out a bit and I tried to adjust it in Photshop, but the color in real life is actually much closer to the first picture I showed. You can kind of see how this one mushrooms a bit. It will definitely give that slouchy look that some guys like. I used the Lionbrand Z-Twist yarn held double.

This hat is quite slouchy, too. I used the Rainbow yarn from Ice Yarns and loved how it worked up. This yarn is definitely way more consistent than the Red Heart Unforgettable (which I will never use again if I can ever help it).

I am working on another hat using some of the yarn from the Mixed Lot bags that I bought from Ice Yarns in my last haul. I can’t wait to show you that one when it’s done.