The latest hobby I’ve taken up during the panini has been crocheting! I happened to have a set of crochet needles and yarn from a past knitting project, so I figured I might as well look up some Youtube videos and give it a shot. On the first day I learned how to chain and single crochet, on the second how to double crochet, on the third how to weave in yarn and double crochet a checkerboard pattern, two weeks later I had a lumpy checkerboard bag to tote around, and a month after that I had a lumpless one.

The hat was more of a headache to sus out. A third of the way through the project, I learned that I crochet weirdly tight so my hat was turning out too small. What was I going to do with a too-small hat? A too-small bag could be a cute micro-bag that held nothing but change and chapstick, but I couldn’t do anything with a too-small hat, so I went through the heartbreaking process of unraveling my hat to resize it. Worth it though! Inspired by some hats I saw on Instagram, I went rogue from the bucket hat pattern I was following, going crazy funky with the brim. Had to do some unraveling for the brim, too, when I lost count of my stitches.

Next I’m thinking of learning how to crochet a granny square bucket hat. There’s something so satisfying about making something with your bare hands.