Published via Ecency

I've been so eager to write about one of my most recent crochet creations but I didn't want to talk about it until I was able to give the full story.

Sometime last month, we were told we'd be writing yet another professional exam to become registered public health nurses and one of the requirements was “mother craft”.

As a public health nurse, one should know how to teach parents how to use locally available items to generate income without so much hassle. We were all swung into a frenzy with the main question being “what to do to seem authentic?”

This wasn't a challenge to me because I saw it as an opportunity to showcase my crochet skills and that was exactly what I did. I just concluded the exams and I'm going to be taking you through the process of making a beautiful crochet baby beanie and concluding with what my external examiner thought about it.

Items Needed

🤍: Yarn.
🤍: 3.5mm crochet hook.
🤍: Measuring tape.
🤍: Pom Pom maker.
🤍: Darning needle.
🤍: Source of light.
🤍: A cutter.
🤍: Packaging materials.

Procedure.

The aim was to keep it simple but authentic so I decided to use basic crochet stitches but with a little twist.

First, I made a magic circle and into the magic circle I worked twelve double crochet stitches. I ended row one with a slip stitch.

Rows two to five were all increase-rows.

For row two, I made increases into every single stitch from the previous row. This brought the stitch count to twenty-four.

For rows three, four and five, I made increases into every other stitch and at the end of row five, I got a stitch count of sixty double crochet stitches.

This was the point where I switched colours but this step is totally optional. To switch colours, one can decide to end the row and start a fresh row with a slip knot but I just like to slip stitch into the last loop and continue from there.

Then, I alternated half double crochet stitches and slip stitches into every space from the previous row. For the next row, I reversed it. Spaces that had slip stitches got half double crochet stitches and vice versa. For the rest of the length, I repeated the first and second rows. I must confess that I didn't really like how this pattern looked from the first row, but once I built up more rows, it became one of the most unique crochet patterns I've used in a while.

Next, I changed colours again to the same colour from the top, white colour. Using the white yarn, I made a row of single crochet stitches to act as a solid base and then ended the body of the craft with front post, back post double crochet stitches. There was a time when I disliked this particular stitch but adding it to give that elastic look to the beanie was a great idea. And no, I don't dislike the stitch anymore :)

I thought I was done with my crochet baby beanie until I showed it to my friend the night before my exam and she told me something was missing. She suggested I either put cat ears or a pom pom. I went with the faster option, pom poms.

Using my pom pom maker, I made a medium sized pom pom, attached it to the top of the beanie and this elevated the baby beanie so much. I showed the finished craft with the pom pom to the friend who nudged me to add the pom pom and below is what she had to say:

I absolutely loved making this pom pom and showing off my craft to everyone around. My colleagues who saw the beanie absolutely loved it but guess who loved it even more? Both my external examiner and my chief examiner.

When I stepped into the exam hall to defend my craft, I could see the awe on their faces. She asked me a few questions about the craft and its economic values. To verify that I made it myself, she told me to do a little sample and once my time was up, she told me to repackage it and keep it for her.

This was such an honour because most examiners didn't want the students to keep their crafts but mine specifically asked me to. I had a feeling that this may happen and that was why I hurriedly took some pictures of the crafts that morning before the exams, hence the unprofessional looking pictures. My apologies.