The Sierra Nevada Hood – Crochet Pattern Review

This is a crochet pattern review of The Sierra Nevada Hood designed by Bethany Lambrecht of Just B Innovative Crochet. Review done by Candace of T&C Crafters for EyeLoveKnots.

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It’s me, Candace with T&C Crafters.

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It has been quite frigid in our area lately, and my family has been staying indoors a lot as a result. When I saw Ashley of A Crafty Concept share her Sierra Nevada Hood designed by Just B Innovative Crochet, I knew that was the next project on my list! I immediately bought the pattern on Etsy and was so excited to see how quickly it would work up and how simple the design was to follow. I knew this would be an easy way to keep myself and our kiddos warm when going outside.

When I went out hunting for the perfect super bulky faux fur to make myself a hood, I found the most adorable rainbow faux fur from Hobby Lobby that made me want to rush to make one for my one-year-old daughter first. Thankfully the Sierra Nevada Hood pattern has both child and adult sizes, so I didn’t even have to think about how to modify the pattern for her little head.

If you live somewhere where the weather gets really cold, I highly recommend you make yourself (and all your friends) a Sierra Nevada Hood! The pattern works up really quickly by using the super bulky faux fur yarn, and it is the softest, warmest piece I’ve ever tried! The pattern even shows how to add a drawstring to make it extra cozy. While the faux fur is most likely a bit difficult for a beginner to work with, the pattern is really easy to follow and is overall a pretty quick and easy make for someone with some crocheting experience.

Materials I Used:

• Yarn Bee Fur the Love Yarn in the color Carousel
• N15/10mm Crochet Hook
• Darning Needle
• The Sierra Nevada Hood, Paid Crochet Pattern by JustBCrochetnCrafts via Etsy

Material Notes:

This pattern requires a lot of faux fur yarn. I chose to make this hood slightly shorter than the pattern said so it would fit my daughter, but even with that modification I used three full skeins of yarn. The pattern calls for 186 yards for an adult size or 124 yards for a child size, so make sure you purchase enough yarn to complete your project.

I used the suggested 10 mm hook when making this piece, and it came out extremely thick and sturdy. While that helped to make it super warm, I plan to use a slightly larger hook when I make another one in the future so that the finished piece is a little less rigid.

The pattern also gives directions for an optional draw string to be added to the front of the hood. If you choose to add this, you would need slightly more yarn in addition to a drawstring about 51 inches in length.

Time Spent:

I spent about three hours total on the child-size version. Because of the thickness of the yarn, I felt the need to take a lot of breaks throughout making it, which impacted my total time. The adult-size will likely take an extra 45 minutes to an hour based on the differences in the pattern.

Measurements:

My finished piece measured 11.5 inches wide at the hood portion and 12 inches wide at the neck when folded in half. The hood was 10 inches high, and I made my neck portion 6 inches high for a total of 16 inches. Because my daughter is so little, I didn’t want it to be any longer so that it wouldn’t cover too much of her nose and mouth when it is folded up to wear.

The pattern lists the child size as 22 inches long and 10 inches wide, with the adult size being 25 inches long and 11 inches wide.

Gauge:

The gauge provided for this pattern indicates that 5 HDC by 5 HDC rows should be approximately 5 inches by 5 inches. Depending on how tightly or loosely you crochet, you will need to adjust your hook size accordingly.

Pattern Notes:

This pattern is a great project to work on over an evening or weekend because of how quickly it works up. The hood is made using mostly half double crochet stitches which quickly add length to the piece. The super bulky faux fur yarn also makes the size of each stitch quite substantial, so you get quite a big piece in not a lot of time.

The biggest difficulty surrounding this pattern is working with the faux fur yarn. Because of the structure of this yarn, you really cannot see your stitches at all, so you have to be able to feel for the stitches to find where to place your hook. If this pattern was made with yarn that was not furry like this, it would be incredibly beginner-friendly, but the faux fur makes it more appropriate for an intermediate crocheter.

This pattern begins with the hood. The starting chain creates the top of the hood, and stitches are worked on either side of it until the appropriate height of the hood is reached. It is important that you keep track of row counts throughout this portion of the pattern because it is difficult to go back and count how many rows you have made since it is hard to see the stitches.

For the neck portion of the hood, stitches are worked in the bottom of the hood the whole way around and connected to create a round. The remainder of the piece is worked in the round, but is still a very simple construction. The neck portion is worked straight down in a flat piece.

To wear the hood, you simply fold up the neck portion into the hood to create the cowl part of the hood. On the child-size pattern, I used five less rows than the pattern suggested because I knew I was making this for my young daughter. You can see from the pictures that it was still long enough to come up to her mouth and cover most of her face. I didn’t want it to cover too much of her face because of how thick it is, but if I was making it for myself or another adult, I would definitely make it long enough to come up more for warmth.

I did not add a drawstring to my finished piece since it was for my daughter, but I think that would be a really great addition for an older child or an adult. The drawstring directions seem really easy to follow, with just one extra row being added and the drawstring going through that extra row.

On the designer’s version of the pattern, she has a leather tag sewn on the front and a drawstring added, which I think makes it look extremely professional and high-quality. I am definitely looking forward to making more of these for myself and the rest of my family! In fact, I already have an adult-size one started for myself in Yarn Be Fur the Love in the color Husky.

If you decide to make one of the Sierra Nevada Hoods, I would love to hear about your experience and see your finished piece! Be sure to comment below or tag Just B Innovative Crochet, T&C Crafters, and EyeLoveKnots when you post on social media!

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