It is crochet hat season, and my goal was to get the first two hats in a series of what is shaping up to be at least half a dozen finished, but I got distracted by an idea in my head that I can best describe as “a shiny crochet object.”

It isn’t literally shiny, but it has that sheen that a new idea has. That glint that gets your attention and makes you think, “hey, what is that over there?”

What it was that was “over there” was an idea for a textured crochet square that was a variation that built on a textured motif that has been a favorite of mine for years.

I didn’t know if my idea would work, and unable to resist finding out if it would (or wouldn’t) I got out my hooks and some teal yarn and got to work. To my delight, I got it on the first try:

The my curiosity about the “shiny crochet object” in my brain sated, I was once again able to concentrate on the business at hand: crochet hat season.

Using Melissa Hassler’s instructions for how to attach the yarn strands for braiding–which can be found at 1:22:08 in the video— and twice as many strands of yarn as called for in the original pattern, I finished work on the rainbow inspired crochet hat:

I was really glad I decided to go with more strands of yarn, as the thicker braids seemed to have more “pop,” and I liked that look.

With one rainbow hat done, I moved onto a second rainbow hat–this one meant to be for an adult:

I got twelve rounds in before deciding I really needed to get back to the pink llama hat, and I made exceedingly modest progress before I needed to get outside to take the day’s photos:

Even though the days have been getting shorter for four-and-a-half months now, I’m still have not gotten into my winter blogging photo groove yet.

As for the hats, I will continue forward, one stitch at a time.