I seriously just spent my whole day off, between running errands and having lunch with family, trying to crochet a cloche.
To. Crochet. A. Cloche.
And finally, when I realized my crochet gauge is as crazy-loose as my knitting gauge, and after I’d gone up in size four times in both yarn weight and hook size, and when I’d finished said hat at almost ten, and when I put it on, I realized, yep. I looked exactly as if I should be selling hemp products on Telegraph Avenue with my dog and pet rat playing at my feet (no offense to hemp, Telegraph, dogs, or rats). Strangely, I did NOT (even with bangs) look like Amelie. I was not suddenly eating creme brulee, or skipping stones across St. Martins Canal. Parisian birds were not singing. Harriet burped at my feet as I looked at myself, and I vaguely wondered where my Birkenstocks were.
No I will not show you. Oh-ho, no.
Crochet is for the weak. Or the very, very strong. And I am neither. I’m going to go knit now. Solace.
hahaahahahah…..pet rat, selling hemp…hahahaha…sounds like most of my hippie girl crochet days…wishin i was in sunny SF now…yukky days here!
Better watch out that the hat doesn’t give you Paris Syndrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome
Oh dear. Better left unphotographed then.
What if you felted it a little?
Hon – you can so do this. One of these days, if I’m up near you or you’re down near me, I’d be happy to give you my “one hour to a perfect cloche” class. Seriously. Also, here’s a hint. The crown of your head is just about the size of your hand.
xo
Faith
My 5 year old looks _beyond_ cute in a cloche but I think her age is key. If you’re still determined, there’s a cute knit one on the Interweave site in their free patterns….
bock bock bock…c’mon, show us!
Sigh. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished to find myself suddenly eating creme brulee…
even when i am eating creme brulee in paris with parisian birds at my feet (they’re called pigeons) with a cloche on my head, i look nothing like amelie.
it isn’t you.
oh please? just one little photo?
I make fab hats for babies and other adults …. every hat I have knitted for myself makes me look like I should be pushing a shopping cart down Telegraph Ave. I remain hatless……..but I feel better
Boy, if ever a photo shoot was beckoning – of course, you’d have to find a handler that would lend you a rat. CRACKED ME UP girl. I am afeard that Koolhaus will give me a similar look, but at least it’s solid. Close-fitting hats make me look like a Dork Royale. Or an extremely well-fed chipmunk.
And of course, your dog was on a rope, instead of a proper leash!
That sounds like a pretty bad hat.
Oh dear. I can picture it exactly. Hey, what’s that smell? Sweat and patchouli?
I think you should totally stage that photo shoot. You don’t even need to be the model…just go down to Telegraph, give the hat to someone who looks like they would love it, and take their picture. Everybody wins 🙂
It can’t be that bad… at least you have hair. Mine is so short that when I put on a hat, I magically transform into a skinny 15 year old boy. Or just plain look bald.
*snort*
What pattern were you using? Or were you designing as you go? Evelyn Clark’s crocheted cloche-ish patterns from Fiber Trends are good. Truly, everyone looks good in a cloche and I’m one of those people who can’t find a hat to look good in.
Ah geez, it isn’t any fun if you aren’t going to share the goofiness with us!
I think you’d look great in a cloche style hat. Maybe a knit and felt one?
Yeah, I have this inexplicable compulsion towards cloches. They look like hell on me, but that doesn’t stop me from buying one every so often, usually from Ebay so that I can’t see how terrible it makes me look until it is too late.
Hahaha! Paris Syndrome, I love it. I wish I could see a photo of the cloche. I have not tried to crochet yet, but I hear it makes great edgings to knitted work. Plus, Drops design has some great crochet hat patterns. PS – I just got onto Ravelry (jenyo). OMG is it addictive. I never would have believed it. Now all I need are some friends 😉
tee hee—I will share your crochet experience with the k11 beginning crochet class—will give them heart or …..on second thoughts might not be so encouraging after all!
I can sympathize. A few years ago I bought a really cute crochet cloche pattern at Stitches East. My mom (who knows how to crochet–I mostly just pretend) tried to crochet the hat and failed. I then spent the better part of an entire day working on the project, and also failed. I still have a skein of chartreuse Manos sitting in my stash waiting for when I feel brave enough to try again.
ps–even though I keep holding off, my mom did finally salvage the little hat, and it looks quite cute now. So there is hope!
Keep trying. Just remember gauge is gauge is gauge. If you knit loosely you will crochet loosely because you are feeding it through your infgers loosely. Use a smaller hook.
Now if only I could spell. FINGERS
The failed cloche sounds like the perfect thing to post on Ravelry in the failed project category. What do they call them? Boos? Ughs?
You are not alone. My crocheted hats come out fine, but my knit hats are ALWAYS too big. We can’t perfect AND beautiful, right? 🙂