One of my most popular crochet patterns is the One Hour Beanie. The most common problem that I’ve heard from people who use the pattern is that their hat turns out too small. And the main reason why this happens is that they crochet tighter than I do. So, even though they counted correctly and followed the instructions, the end product is too small.

The solution to this is to use a bigger hook than the one that I list in the pattern. Then, your stitches will be bigger, even though you may crochet more tightly.

Or, an even better solution is to make a gauge swatch BEFORE you even start working on a new pattern!

Then you’ll know if you can use the hook size that I recommend based on what I do, or if you need to use a bigger or smaller hook to achieve the correct sized stitch.

Watch the video below to learn all about stitch size, hooks, yarn and gauge so that your next project will turn out the perfect size!

You don't need to spend much time in the crafting world before hearing the popular acronym WIP, which stands for Work In Progress. Honestly, I usually have at least three WIPs going on at once! Some of which are over a year old. Ooops.

So, I've decided to participate in the WIP Wednesday blog thread and start sharing them with you on Wednesdays, in hopes that I'll follow through and finally finish them. Because...Friday is FO (Finished Object) Friday. I'm hoping that posting this WIP on Wednesday will help me end up with an FO to post on Friday.

This week's WIP is about 9 months old. Embarrassing, I know, but I'm sharing to help get out of this cycle! I made up a pattern for an infinity scarf and I made a couple last winter. Then, I got a new color of yarn to make a third scarf and decided to write down the pattern as I crocheted and create a new pattern to sell.

Somehow, I got totally derailed on this scarf and pattern writing. I think I'll blame it on the holiday rush of beanies that I had to make at the same time. So, I recently found it my box of WIPs and decided it was time to finish it, write the pattern and make my dreams come true! ;)

The only problem that I had with re-starting this WIP is that I had forgotten the pattern that I was using! The bulky, bumpy nature of this yarn made it hard for me to see the stitches I had been doing to get this far.

Fortunately, I had a notebook of pattern ideas that I'd been writing. I looked back and it was one of the very first ones in the book. So, I was able to figure out what I had been doing that looked so nice and continue crocheting. So far, I think it's looking great!

Unfortunately, I lost the label from this yarn sometime in the last year, so I have no idea what it's called. I'm sure that I got it from Michaels so I can only hope that they still carry it!

The best news about this scarf pattern, is that it actually works up really quickly! So, now that I remembered the pattern, I should be able to finish it in time for FO Friday.

Do you have a WIP that's a year old or more? Do you think you'll ever finish it? Tell me about it in the comments and post a link if you've posted pictures!