I noticed in the bartering thread that alot of people were looking to trade for tams, and I found this great pattern to make them! I figured I would share it with all of you! http://purplesagedesignz.blogspot.com/2007/11/free-hippie-tam-pattern-and-how-custom.html And I"ll try and simplify for those who dont crochet. I'm sorry if it seems a little confusing I am not a very good teacher, but luckily I found these links and videos on how to do the different stitches. (I personally find the videos more helpful but it all depends on what kind of learner you are) If you've never crocheted before, it might be easier to start off just making a square. That way you can practice a little bit without getting frustrated (that's what my mom got me to do so I could practice) Here's a link on how to do that.I call it a square, the pattern calls it a dishcloth. Also the picture in the pattern has a visor on the tam, but the pattern doesnt tell you how to make it. So this tam in this pattern has no visor http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa041799.htm so at the begining of the pattern it says you need a K size crochet hook. This is just a recommendation. The smaller the crochet hook, the tighter the stiches will be and the bigger the crochet hook the looser and bigger the stitches will be. It all depends on what look you are going for.so it says to chain 4, chaining is how you start off pretty much any crochet project.Here's a link to explain how to chain (i'm not very good at explaining things so hopefully the link will help, if it doesn't, here's a video from youtube) http://crochet.about.com/od/learnbasics/ss/stchain.htm on the site it says to join with a sling stitch, but I think she meant slip stitch so this is how you do a slip stitch http://crochet.about.com/od/learnbasics/qt/slst.htm and here's a video Then once you have done this, the pattern says to chain 3 (the link and vid are above) and then it says (= double crochet) what this means is; the pattern says to do 16 double crochets, but the 3 stitches that you chained count as one, so just do 15 additional ones.Here's the link on how to double crochet and the video http://crochet.about.com/library/bldoublecrochet.htm Congradulations you just make it through round 1!!So on to round 2.so now we need to knit 2 dc (double crochets) in each double crochet. This will increase the size of the row, giving us 32 double crochet stitches in total.And success we have made it to round 3!So it says to skip the first dc and that means that you do not want to do a double crochet on the first double crochet because this is going to make the little holes (for ventilation on those hot days!)then the pattern says to chain. So we learned this move at the beginning. so chain 3, and then you want to do two double crochet stitches, in the next double crochet (from the previous row). Then we keep up this pattern of skipping one, then doing two double crochets in one stitch until the end of the row. As you've notcied this is increasing the size of the crown of our tam.Ya round 4!So now we want to do a double crochet (dont forget to chain 3 after each double crochet) in each space and then two double crochets in the space.On to round 5!So now to increase we want to do two double crochets in each second space. So what you want to do is double crochet, then do two double crochets then do one dc and then two and this makes the crown bigger some more.Whoo hoo we are into round 6!So now what we want to do is double crochet one in each space. and by doing this, the crown will stop increasing in size. The pattern reccommends 11 inches across for "regular sized dreads" whatever that is and 12 inches for bigger dreads. So you want to contine round 5 until you've reached your desired diameter. Then continue doing round 6 until you have your desired length. So once you can reached your desired length you need to bind off and this is a video on how to do that and now you have the end of the yarn sticking out. Here's how to fix that http://crochet.about.com/library/bl_weave_ends.htm so the last thing you can do, and this part is optional. Is to make a drawstring. I mean dreads are heavy and without it, you might find your tam is slipping. So to make a drawstring you want to do chain stitches until you have the desired length. Keeping in mind you want the drawstring a bit longer then the diamter of your tam so that you can have enough length to tie it.Then you just weave the drawstring in the tam and YAY you have a tam!
updated by @jo: 11/12/21 03:49:39PM