Raspberry Days of Winter ?!?

Raspberries are my favorite fruit. There is just something,  so good about going out an picking the sun warmed fruit of the bush and eating them before you even get back inside.

On craving days like to day I really miss my Grandma. She passed away back in 2004. She lived her life in a house that my Grandfather build. He was a carpenter. In her backyard was a beautiful large flower garden  (at lease 4 feet by 12 feet- probably more), Behind there when I was young was a huge vegetable garden (I'm guessing a minimum of 20 ft by 12 ft- again probably more). The place I loved most were the two to three rows of raspberry bushes running the long length of the vegetable garden.

I remember on summer days Grandma would send us outside to find ripe raspberries with a bowl or a bucket. I know more of the berries wound up in my stomach than in the collection to go inside to be made into jam, and for dessert like in a fresh raspberry pie or onto ice cream.

Are your expecting me to share one of those time loved recipes for my Grandma's raspberry something?  Well I will cover the recipe for a raspberry something. It is not Grandma's recipe, but you can make it anytime of the year with some red and green yarn.

The following are directions to create a raspberry hat. I started out with instructions from Olivia from Hopeful Honey called Raspberry Baby Hat Crochet Pattern. In truth, I found the instructions hard to understand and follow.  I also found that the "Puff Stitch" wasn't very puffy, nor was it explained in the instructions. I  did find the instructions for a "Puff Stitch" posted by a Julia from FaveCrafts in response to a reader who asked how to do the stitch. It was "berried" at the bottom of the screen. 

 I can't leave anything alone and changes abound from the original instruction I was using.  I wrote out my pattern, and I am naming it in honor of my Grandma. 

Theresa's Raspberry Hat Crochet Pattern

Materials:

Crochet Hook: H/8 or 5 mm  

Yarn:  MC= "Franken yarn" - close to a light/medium weight yarn (bulk 3). My franken yarn was 2 strands of red "Loops & Threads® Woolike™ Yarn" from Michael's and 1 strand pink variegated Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton Classic 10
AC= 2 strands of green "Loops & Threads® Woolike™ Yarn" from Michael's  

Scissors

Tapestry/ Yarn needle

Stitches and Abbreviations: 

CH - chain
BL - back loop
DC - Double Crochet
HDC - Half Double Crochet 
SC - Single Crochet 
SK - Skip
SS - slip stitch 
ST(s) - Stitch(s) 
TC - Treble Crochet 
YO - Yarn Over
* - section to repeat. 

Specialty Stitches Abbreviations and Instructions:

Magic Ring - Magic Ring Tutorial

PS - Puff Stitch: *YO, insert hook in ST, YO, bring a loop through the ST, YO, bring loop through 2 loops on hook* repeat 3 more time. YO, draw loop through 4 loops on hook, YO, draw through 2 loops on hook.


LPS - Large Puff Stitch: *YO, insert hook in ST, YO, bring a loop through the ST, YO, bring loop through 2 loops on hook* repeat 4 more time. YO, draw loop through 5 loops on hook, YO, draw through 2 loops on hook.

Pattern Instructions:

Hat:

Using MC yarn. 
Magic Ring
Row 1 - *DC in the ring, CH1* (repeat 5 more times), SS to first DC, CH 2. (row has 12 STs)
Row 2  - PS in every ST of row 1, SS in first PS, CH 2. (row has 12 PS)
Row 3 - *2 PS in PS of row 2, PS in next PS of row 2* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 2. (row has 18 STs)
Row 4 - *2 PS in PS of row 3, PS in next two STs of row 3* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 2. (row has 24 STs)
Row 5 -  *2 PS in PS of row 3, PS in next six STs of row 3* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 2. (row has 27 STs)
Row 6 - *PS in fist ST, LPS in next ST* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 2. 
Row 7 - *LPS in fist ST, PS in next ST* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 2.
Row 8 - Repeat row 6
Row 9- Repeat row 7
Row 10-  *PS in fist ST, LPS in next ST* Repeat all the way around, SS in first PS, CH 1. 
Row 11-  SC in each ST, SS in first SC.
Fasten off and weave in ends.

Stem:

Using AC yarn. 
Magic Ring
Row 1 - SC 5 times, SS in first SC, CH 1
Row 2 to 5 - SC into each ST, SS in first SC, CH 1
Row 6 - Decrease stitch through all ST, fasten off.

Leaves (make 6):

Using AC yarn. 

CH 9.
Side 1 (One side of foundation CH) - SC in 2nd CH, HDC in next ST, DC in next ST, TC in next two STs, DC in next ST, 2 HDC in last CH ST. CH 2.
Side 2 (Other side of foundation CH) - 2 HDC in first ST, HDC in next ST, DC in next St, TC in next two STs, DC in next ST, 2 HDC in last CH ST, SS to fist SC on Side 1.
Fasten off with extra long tail. Weave Up the center or the leave to the opposite end which is the end by the stem.

Creating the berry hat top:

Step 1: Using the extra yarn and yarn needle sew the leaves together in the BL half way down to create a circle, the yellow lines in this image shows where it was sewn.

Step 1- Sew leaves in a circle.

Step 2: Sew the stem in the center using some green yarn that matched the leaves n stem. 
I did this by running a stitch for leaf to opposite leaf, each stitch represented by a different color in the image.  Pulling each stitch tight the leaves will want to fold up towards the stem into a flower. This is not a problem.

Step 2- Add the Stem

Step 3: Sew the full green top to the hat. Centering the stem over the hat's center an the leaves over row 1 of DCs.  I stitched down the center of the leaves about 3/4 of the way, then back to the stem then down the next leaf back to the stem, all the way around.  I allowed the tips of the leaves to stick up/out for a realistic look. The green dashes in the image represent the stitch route. 

Step 3- Sew to the Hat

Berry-licious!!!

Here is my finished hat.

Theresa's Raspberry Hat- Side View

Theresa's Raspberry Hat- Top View

I have already been asked to make this for an adult friend. I told them it will have to be a blackberry, boysenberry, or maybe a yellow raspberry.