Crochet Project #1

Old winter hat turns into new beanie!

To do my first post I had to find some yarn I had not used yet. I found a small amount of green yarn waste from a previous winter hat I’ve done a loooong time ago. Looking at the green hat I concluded it was time to undo it and do another one since I didn’t use it that much.

I went to Ravelry website to look for some free pattern and after some time I found “Divine hat” by Sarah Arnold and decided it was time to finally do a beanie for myself.

At first you don’t see the pattern quite clearly but I’d say after the 7^th row you start to understand what is going on. The final result may be better if you actually do with the proper yarn Sarah Arnold herself recommends to be used. My yarn is a little bit rougher that I think it should be to this project but I really liked my new beanie.

It is an easy project if you are beginning your crocheting path, but it is also a pretty one for those more experienced. It requires 4 stitches: single crochet, double crochet, foundation half double crochet (fhdc), and back post double crochet (bpdc). But you’ll mostly do dc and fhdc. I explained sc and dc on Crochet 101. I’ll now explain fhdc and bpdc to you. Despite the name, they are very easy to do.

Basically, think of a dc stitch. Now, instead of inserting your needle on the loop of the stitch in the previous row, you’ll insert your needle behind/in front of the stitch’s knot. The difference between fhdc and bpdc is from where the needle is coming from. If it is in the front and goes behind the knot, then it is a fhdc as in the following pictures:

You star as a dc, doing a loop on your needle from the thread. Then you insert your needle on the right side of the stitch you want to pop up from the front of your project piece. You go all the way in the back until the needle appears at the left side of the stitch. You make a loop on your needle that you'll pull through the back of the soon to be popping stitch. You'll have three loops on your needle and you'll make a fourth one. From here it is just like a double crochet.

Now, if it is from behind and goes in the front of the stitch, you’re doing a bpdc stitch as in the following pictures:

Same as a double crochet: Make a loop on your needle from your thread before you insert your needle on the right side of the stitch you want to push back from the back of your project piece. You go all the way in the front until the needle goes to the left side of the stitch. You make a loop on your needle that you'll pull through the front of the stitch. Be careful here or you'll pull the wrong thread. Then you'll have three loops on your needle and you'll make a fourth one. From here it is just like a double crochet to finish it up too.

And if you do them in a succession it will look close to this:

This is actually the last 5 rows of my beanie. I felt the need to add a last row of single crochet stitches just to wrap it up.

So, since it is a free pattern, you can download it from Ravelry website. It was the second pattern I tried to do for a winter hat (I’ll probably do another post about my first attempt since it developed to a future project idea). It is a very nice explained pattern, not at all difficult to understand. As I also said in my Crochet 101 post, I learned crochet by doing it and I still get confused by the stitches’ names so you can trust me when I say it is not that difficult.

Here is my old and no-longer-existing winter hat and my brand new beanie:

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Mrs. Vieira

Introducing Mrs. Vieira

As Mr. Vieira wrote about last week, this blog is an idea to basically be another hobby of ours. I like to write very much and he likes to talk about stuff he enjoys doing, so we might as well join both in a single thing. We were a little hesitant at talking about personal matters but we figured we should just choose wisely what to say.

We both have had some turbulent past experiences that we grew from. He already wrote briefly about his experiences and now I feel like it is my turn to do the same.

I have incredibly low self esteem and a huge lack of confidence in myself. I have always been a little fat, somewhat chubby and that made me feel undesirable since my teenage years. I was bullied when I was around 13 years old. That is a very delicate age, so many things are happening inside our minds and body. I still feel the consequences from that sometimes. This huge gap in my esteem spreads to my confidence in other areas for some infuriating unknown reason when I let my barriers down.

At the same time, I learned to show a tough front to the world, so in some ways this pretending helped me internalize some things. I consciously know I am smart and worthy of good fortune. I have learned to build up walls around my inner self so nobody can hurt me anymore. To the exterior world, I do look like a very self confident person. My husband, I believe, is the only person that I truly allow to take a peek inside. This exchange between us has helped to solve some of our issues.

If you are reading this and you feel like you connect to anything I have said, or if you need to remember yourself that things will turn out alright someday, relax. Just give yourself a break from overthinking too much. I think low self esteem is just like an addiction when it is up to the “cure”. There is no cure. Some comment here, some situation there and you will be down the hill once again. Unless you surround yourself with people that love you for who you are. Or, in my case, unless you find a person that knows all of your weaknesses and still loves you.

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Mrs. Vieira

Introducing Mr. Vieira

As my first post, I decided to write about the blog and myself. First, Every Otter Thing was a long idea about a blog in which my wife and I could write about everything, every single piece of advice, mistakes, and achievements in our lives.

I am from Brazil, but at age of 18 I moved to the USA. It was nice to know another country, but I got a big problem: I’m terrible at speaking (even my native language). Can you guess how my English is? Well, not great. I can say how many times it made my life terrible, hard and annoying. I do not have a lot of friends. I do not have a good relationship with anybody (until I met my wife). Also, I have some nice abilities. I get stressed very easily, I loose focus/interest quickly, and many more. AKA It makes my life terrible.

For many years I thought I was cursed. I would question out loud: Why always me? I even did not talk about my terrible family, after long years of ignoring me and saying I was being “girly”. I could not be more depressed?. I got at a lot of bad relationships too. Because I wanted to hide my feelings and depression. Well, I got a rough teenager/young adult years for lack of support.

Well, It was hell. How can you fight against something this dangerous? With Patience. After long years thinking about all the bad stuff on live. I learned I wasn’t cursed. I was someone lost at the world, I needed to find my way. Doesn’t matter if I was alone, if I could find my way, I would be fine. One day I heard a phase: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, It’s not the end.” Since then, it become my phase of life.

 I not too old, but I had to make a lot of difficult decisions: College or my current wife, Brazil or USA, New Car or live alone. But anyway, everybody has difficult decisions to make, it does not matter if you are old or new. Every time you fail, you should learn with it. Do not think you are worthless. Keep going. You will find friends, people how loves you what you are, experiences which will make history for your children. All of that. Just keep walking. Never give up.

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Mr. Vieira

Crochet 101

As my first post, I decided to write about basic notions in crocheting. Crochet is one of my favorite hobbies if not the one favorite. I learned how to crochet when I was about 15 years old by watching my mom sew a carpet for our living room. She herself learned the craft by watching her grandmother and so on. Thus you can say it has been in the family for quite a while. 

Because I learned by doing, I did not know the names of the basic stitches. You see, there are only four mainly stitches from which you may play around and make your own pattern. And may I dare say that among these four, only three are really important knowing: Chain (and slip stitch), single crochet, and double crochet. They are the ones I am showing you today. 

Without further delay, let us begin! 

• Chain (ch)

First things first. You need to hold your thread between your thumb and point fingers. Since I am a right-handed person, I hold the thread between my left hand fingers so my right hand is free to hold and to move around my needle.

Next step, since we are beginning a project and because most of the projects, if not all of them, are going to begin with a chain, You'll need to twist your needle in a full 360º circle. You will pull the thread inside the loop you just created.

Usually, you'll have to do some more before moving up to the next stitch. It is also common to start any circular project by making a circle of chains. First, you chain as many stitches as you want and then, to close your circle, you'll need to do the slip stitch.

• Slip stitch (sl st) 

The slip stitch seems just like a chain. In fact, that first stich I just wrote about, the one with the 360º, is a type of slip stitch used to begin a crochet piece. The slip stitch is also there to finish a line or a project.

The difference now is in where you insert the needle before stitching it.

Before you make a chain, you'll insert the needle into the closest stitch loop, which will be right to the left of your needle. After that, you'll pull the thread through the two loops you have on your needle (one from the next stitch loop and one from the last stitch you just made).  Slip stitch and circle well done! 

• Single crochet (sc) 

Now imagine how cool it would be making a loop on the needle just before making a chain? Basically, this stitch would become a single crochet.

Usually, a line of chains is the beginner step to every project. Single crochets cannot be done out of nowhere, they need to have other stitches working as a base. You need to insert your needle in the stitch's loop of your choice and make a loop with your thread, which you'll pull across the stitch. It'll leave you with two loops on your needle. You'll make another loop from your thread and then pull it across the first two loops, leaving you with only one loop on your needle once again. In the biggest picture, I made three single crochet stitches just to help to visualize how they'll look like in a line.

1 sc is usually the same height as 1 or 2 ch

• Double crochet (dc) 

Again, now imagine how it would look like if you made a loop just before starting to do your single crochet... It would become a double crochet stitch. 

Make a loop from your thread and insert the needle in the stitch of your choice. Next, make another loop from your thread, leaving you with three loops and a "stitch" on your needle. Pull the recent loop through the stitch and you'll be left with three loops on your needle. You'll make another loop and pull it through the next two loops. It will seem like I am repeating myself, but make another loop and pull it through the remaining loops on your needle (aka the other two loops).

In the biggest picture bellow, I made four double crochet stitches in a row.

A dc is usually the same height as 3 ch

That was all for today! Thank you for reading my opening and I hope I will keep seeing you around here. If you have any questions at all, comment in the box bellow and I'll be more than happy to help you!

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Mrs. Vieira