I spent most of my weekend crocheting tetriminos in all colors of the rainbow for my as-yet-to-be-completed Tetrisghan, but today, after lunch, I set aside the tetriminos and started work on testing a pattern for my friend, Eileen Tepper.

As my regular readers know, I am a huge fan of her hat patterns.

I have made her nubby brimmed cloche twice.

The first in sunburst orange:

The second in an almost fire engine red:

I have also made her crochet nubby brimmed newsboy hat once:

as well as this rendition of her crochet newsboy hat that I made with a single strand of an alpaca/merino blend that I bought from Debra Brandt of Circle B Alpacas:

and I have even made her slouchy beret:

Given that I have loved every project I have made using Eileen Tepper’s patterns, I was more than delighted when she asked me if I could test a new pattern that she is working on, and today, I got a start on her soon to be available Crochet Ribbed Newsboy Hat.

I started with a trip to my yarn annex in search of two skeins of the same color yarn. After reviwing my many choices, I settled on Red Heart Super Saver orchid because I a) had two of them (okay, more than two of them) and b) it is a fairly light color which allows me to easily see any errors in my work.

Here is the yarn I selected in a photo that accurately depicts the color:

With the choosing of the yarn done, the next thing I did was take hook to yarn. Fortunately, I checked the hook size before proceeding as the hook I selected for the above photos was a 9.0 mm hook rather than the 8.0 mm hook called for in the pattern.

With one rookie error averted, I began work on the first round which I thought had gone really well until I got to the second round toward the end of which I discovered, I had made yet another rookie error.

I quickly frogged my way back to the beginning and started over.

In no time, I had finished the first eight rounds:

There are three things I particularly like about Eileen Tepper’s designs.

One, the hats always fit spectacularly well. I don’t know why, but I know that they do, and every hat I have made using her patterns I have not only worn, but worn comfortably.

Two, the hats always have an interesting texture, and that texture always works to enhance the hat in some way and is not simply decorative.

Three, there is always an unusual construction technique or stitch pattern that makes the project not only engaging, but leaves me with a new tool in my crochet tool kit that I can use in future projects.

So, I am actually looking forward to getting up at 5:30 tomorrow, and as soon as I get my son off to the bus, I will have my hook in hand and will not put it down until I am done!

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