mi prami la Crochet Geek
My favorite thing on G+ is Crochet Geek, who has a new pattern almost every morning.  Some don't interest me (I know no babies for booties, e.g.) but many are cute or clever or teach great techniques.  Or give me starts for "improvements".  Here are a few I've enjoyed and either improved or screwed up interestingly.

This was a shot at a waffle weave, but I misread the crucial line and so didn't get the strong differentiation of the original.  Better reading next time, but this isn't bad looking.

A couple of changes here: magic ring rather than ordinary ring (I wish I could remember who taught me that trick) and a sharper point .

By-the-book butterfly.

By-the-book flower, but I would like the lower petals (or whatever they are) to alternate with the upper ones rather than underlie them.  I tried that by screwed up elsewhere but finally got it right

Another trick from CG is the difference between working with whole loops or only the front loop or only the back.  When you alternate blocks of FLO with blocks of BLO you get a nice rib effect:

upside down hat.
I start at the crown and work down, adding stitches row by row.  And I usually end up with a hat that is too big or too small or has strange angles in it.  So, against the size problem, I started one at the edge and worked up.  The angles are worse, but the size is about right (though I won't use Tunisian crochet for the edge again -- no give).

Chemotherapy means hair loss, so one actual use for crocheted caps is a cover-up.  I made one for an autumn, who decided against it and another yet to be presented.

Summer time, so lighter hats called for (if any, of course)

We all make mistakes, but some turn out interesting.  I am not sure how I came to turn a hat around at a join and crochet a row backwards.  But I like the effect and have done it deliberately several times now for a terraced effect,

In a neat yarn shop in Monterey (name long lost, alas) I got two great things: the irl of Ravelry, the source for all things yarny and a view of a couple of baskets crocheted with two strands.  I went home and tried that and, while mine didn't stand up as well (loose stitches? lighter yarn? bad proportions?), I liked the look and tried a couple of hats that way.

Goodness, it's been a long time since I did anything here.  But I have kept on hookin' and this seems to be a time to catch up a bit.  For the most part, I have been into hats, giving many away as presents (cheap I am, since I have been using mostly left over yarns and do the work to keep from fiddling and driving wife 3 crazy.  So here are some hats at a Christmas party (not all ended up with the wearers)