Crochet in the round with ribs!

Mmmmm!  Ribs!  Yummy!

Alas, I'm not talking about barbecued ribs today, but with the ribbing effect that can be achieved when crocheting in the round.  Normal crochet in the round is so mundane and boring, it is assumed everyone knows how to do it, but if you don't, here is a tutorial:

To review, I start with a circle of 12 DCs;, which is the most common starting round I have seen.  Each of those 12 DCs is the point of a wedge--in the second round there are 2 DCs, in the third round 3 DCs, etc., each emanating from the initial DC.  That is how the required increases to create a true piece in the round are accomplished.

But.

Let us assume we want more texture, perhaps a texture to go along with the stitch that is used on the side of that hat.  Here is one way to accomplish that.

1. Complete your initial ring of 12 DCS. I don't care how the ring is accomplished--magic ring, ch4 & ss, ch2 and use the 1st ch as your ring--that's just you crocheting. Slip stitch to join (SSTJ) with the initial DC or initial ch3 that substituted for a DC.  (12 st)
2. For round 2 we need 2 stitches for each stitch below. Ch 3 in the top of the 1st DC (or ch3), then FPDC in the post of the same DC.  Repeat for each DC in round 1.  SS behind the ch3 to join. (24 st)
3. Ch3, which counts as 1st FPDC. In FPDC from 1st wedge below, DC in top of next st, FPDC in post of same st.  For each succeeding wedge, FPDC in 1at st, DC + FPDC in 2nd st.  Each wedge has the pattern FPDC-DC-FPDC. SS behind the 1st ch3 to join.  (36 st)
4. Ch3 (counts as FPDC), DC in next st., DC in top of next st., FPDC around post of same st.  Repeat for each wedge.  Each wedge has the pattern FPDC-DC-DC-FPDC.  SS behind the initial ch 3 to join.  (48 st)
5. Ch3 (counts as FPDC), DC in next st., FPDC in next DC, DC in top of next st., FPDC around post of same st.  Repeat for each wedge.  Each wedge has the pattern FPDC-DC-FPDC-DC-FPDC.  SS in top of the initial ch 3 to join.  (60 st)
6. Ch 3 (counts as DC), FPDC around post of same DC/ch3, DC in next DC, FPDC in next FPDC, DC in next DC, FPDC in next FPDC.  Repeat for each wedge.  Each wedge has the pattern DC-FPDC-DC-FPDC-DC-FPDC.  SSTJ in the manner appropriate for the next round, which should be without any increases at all.

You can now continue with the ribbing for the entire vertical portion of the hat, or you can execute a rice stitch by alternating FPDC in every DC from the previous round, and DC in every FPDC from the previous round.  The choice is entirely yours!

Hat with ribbed top

Hat with flat top

New hat pattern!

Rice Stitch Hat

Please note:  I make all my hat patterns free of charge to inspire crocheters to make hats for charity, particularly for Hat Not Hate.  Please feel free to redistribute this pattern, so long as you include this note and credit the pattern creator. Please visit my Ravelry store and consider purchasing a pattern that is not free.

Yarn:  Any worsted weight yarn, such as Lion Brand Pound of Love.  Would also work with a DK weight yarn.   Approximately 105 yards/95 m.

Hook:  5.5 mm/I

Stitches:  Chain (ch), single crochet (SC), double crochet (DC), front-loop double crochet (FLDC), slip stitch (SS)

Size can be adjusted by altering the number of circle rounds and rows of rice stitch.  You could also use different sizes of yarn or hook sizes.  If you use a different number of rounds for the circle, make sure you join at the end of the last round in the manner described in step 5 below.

Method:

Create initial disc:

1. Ch 4, slip stitch to join (SSTJ) into a ring.  
2. Ch 3 (counts as DC here and throughout), work 11 more DCs.  SSTJ in top of ch 3. (12 DC total, including ch 3)
3. Ch 3, DC in same stitch, 2 DC in each DC from previous round.  SSTJ in top of ch 3. (24 DC total)
4. Ch 3, 2 DC in next st, [DC in next st, 2 DC in next st] repeat bracketed instructions to end of round.  SSTJ in top of ch 3.  (36 DC total)
5. Ch 3, DC in next st, 2 DC in next st, [DC in next 2 st, 2 DC in next st] repeat bracketed instructions to end of round.  SSTJ in top of ch 3.  (48 DC total)
6. Ch 3, DC in next 2 st, 2 DC in next st, [DC in next 3 st, 2 DC in next st] repeat bracketed instructions to end of round.  SS behind ch 3 to join.  (60 DC total)

Body of hat:

1. Ch 3 (counts as FPDC), DC in next st, [FPDC in next st., DC in next st.] repeat bracketed instructions to end of row, SSTJ in top of ch 3. 
2. Ch 3, FPDC in next st, [DC in FPDC below, FPDC in DC below] repeat bracketed instructions to end, SS behind ch 3 to join.
3. Ch 3, DC in next st, [FPDC in next DC below, DC in FPDC below] repeat bracketed instructions to end of row, SSTJ in top of ch 3. 
4. Repeat rows 2 and 3, until hat has reached desired size. Whether you end on a row 2 or a row 3 does not matter.
5. Ch 1.  SC in same st, and in every st below. SSTJ in 1st  SC (60 SC)
6. Repeat previous row.  Tie off.

Sew in loose ends.  Bribe someone to model it for Instagram pictures.  

Please address any questions or comments to beardedyarndudes@deb8.biz.

A new pattern--April Rectangle Shawl

Everybody and her sister has been creating ponchos recently, so I had to jump on the bandwagon.  I came up with this easy poncho, and it is now available on my Ravelry store:

10 Non-Yarny Things About Me

Apparently it's meme season again, ladies and gentlemen.  I was tagged with the list meme to divulge 10 non-yarny things about me.  I prepared a video about this, but had technical difficulties in uploading it.  I actually did talk about it when I did a live stream on Mother's Day. But I will also share it here:

1. My undergraduate degree is in music ed. When I started college I wanted to lead high school choruses, but when I finished I wanted to be an opera singer.
2. I didn’t finish high school.  The college I chose had a program where excellent students could dive right into college after completing 11th grade.  I do not regret that decision.
3. I have been in at least three graduate programs, but still do not have a graduate degree.  I have most of a Master of Music in voice, which I attempted at two different schools, and I also started an MBA but lost interest.
4. I have failed at a real estate career in three different states.
5. I worship and adore dogs with all my heart (no big surprise there), but I am terrified of actually taking on the responsibility of dog ownership. I can hardly take care of myself!
6. I have met, studied with, and interviewed for writing projects, some of the most famous opera singers in the world. Some of them are still very kind to me.
7. The very best summer of my life was one summer when I was in school, when I spent six weeks in Austria, mostly in Salzburg.  (Carol Vaness, are you listening?  I still have reactions that I don’t usually share with girls when I think of your Vitellia in Clemenza di Tito.)  The second best would be in 2010, when my husband and I visited Munich, and one of our amazing adventures was a day trip to Salzburg.  I was totally unprepared for the emotional reaction I would have when we were there.  (Equally as joyful was Augsburg, near his mother’s birth place, and where we learned his Opa had been part of rebuilding the Dom after the war.)
8. I consider my succession of occupations outside of music as sort of slurping from one thing to the next.  I was an administrative assistant for a financial PR/advertising/printing firm, then a financial typesetter because I convinced people I had a brain and could learn, and then I used typesetting languages for programming of data-driven printing, then I started doing documentation and project management in that realm…...then I got laid off and never really wanted to go back.  Hence the subsequent forays into real estate.
9. I owe my love of poetry to the NYC subway system. There was a program (possibly still is) in cooperation with the Poetry Society of America called Poetry in Motion, where poems and poetry excerpts would be displayed in subways cars where normally there were paid advertisements. Seen the same passages day after day, reading them repeatedly, led me to appreciate them very much. I had previously thought I hadn’t the patience for poetry, but I do. I love the compact and skillful use of language to relate ideas and themes and feelings.
10. In the same way that I love poetry, I love all skillful use of language. I love 19th century Brit-Lit (Jane Austen was such a babe!), I love Shakespeare, and I love well written comedies and dramas of the golden age of movies and television.
11. (Bonus item)  I felt an amazing sense of entitlement when I turned 50.  “I don’t have to do that!  I’m 50 years old!”  On my 50th birthday I bought myself a BMW.  I was delighted with my own generosity.  I loved that car.  But I loved the VW Passat I had after that as well.  What car would I choose if I could buy a new car now?  Probably a Kia Stinger.  Or not.  Who knows?