Making The Most of Each Day: Idle hands are the Devil's workshop...

..My mother quoted that phrase each time I told her I was bored. I can never sit without creating something.
This past week has been a most eventful one. I have survived floods, earthquakes, terrible heat waves where I could fry an egg on my sidewalk, and forest fires right up the hill from my house. We have experienced severe droughts here in Southern California, we have had power outages, and terrible gasoline shortages where we had to wait hours in line to get rationed gasoline. But, I have never experienced 101 mile an hour Santa Ana winds! We were without heat, electricity, phones, there was no school, and many grocery stores were shut down because of no power. It was odd being in the dark several nights just using flashlights and candles. There was so much devastation. Huge, 100 year old oak trees fallen to the ground all over my city . Some of them took the sidewalks uprooted along with them. Roofs were caved in, windows broken , cars smashed, yet I haven't heard of any casualties, Thank God! So we crocheted by candlelight and became better acquainted with each other.
ANYWAY! I have been crocheting and I'd like to share my hats with you. If you are brave, and have a couple of hours, some yarn and a hook; I will give you the easiest pattern which will make you feel like a designer. These will be great Christmas gifts considering how cold our weather is becoming.

MY PATTERN FOR A VERY SIMPLE HAT:
use scrap yarn. I make 2 adult and 1 child's hat out of one skein of yarn.
chain 30
Row1 double crochet into each chain and turn your work for the next row
Row2 go into the back loop ONLY and double crochet through each until the end of the row, turn
Row3 Continue to crochet for about 20 rows into the back loop of each double, turn and repeat until you have done about 10 or 12 inches long, it is a matter of choice and also how big your head is. Use your discression.
you now have a rectangle
lay the first row on top of the last row you crocheted, now sew them together making a seam which makes the hat look like a cylinder, or a large noodle.
turn the cylinder inside out so the ugly seam is on the outside just while you are working on gathering the top circle part closed
Now, weave the yarn with a yarn needle or you could use a crochet hook(little tricky) and make a draw string while closing the top part of the hat gathered shut. Pull hard. You might want to use double yarn on your needle for this.
Now, you will turn your hat inside out and you have your hat!
Turn up the bottom (hem area) up to look like a cuff. I tack mine down every 2 inches. You can crochet a border along the bottom of the hat with a contrasting color that might match your flower or pom pom.
You can put a flower on the side or a pom pom on the top. You can even sew on some large bells for the Holidays!
CONGRATULATIONS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and stay WARM and safe,and............Most important, God bless you! :)

My little Pumpkin head grand baby!

My little Turkey head grand angel ! This hat was challenging trying to keep the feathers from falling! LOL! I just crocheted a fan with variegated yard and outlined it with a scallop.