| Swahaste tvahastam (from my hands to yours)

More lace

October 28, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: Accessories, FOs, FOs - Crochet, lace shawl crochet wool FO, Pattern Testing | 15 comments

Between my last post and this one, there’s been a long gap, and the one I’m showing in this didn’t follow that one in chronology, but has a similar theme (Lace! Shawl!). I tested this for a friend I’ve tested for before, and funnily enough, this was my first lace weight project in crochet.

Yarn: Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino, about 2 skeins

Hook: 2.5mm

Size: 42″ deep. The batwing, from the centre-out construction meant I ended up with a shawl that is twice as wide as it was deep. I love how straightforward geometry is.

Sorry I haven’t got better photographs to show you, but I never seem to, somehow.

Time: Took me just under 4 weeks, which it oughtn’t to have, except I think I began doing something else in the meantime.

Pattern: Wings of the Valkyrie by Elizabeth Nicole Designs (queenmamajen on Rav). The etsy link to buy the pattern is here. I’ve made Miss Austen by her before, and one or two others, which apparently I didn’t blog.

Only the foundation is different, once you get beyond that, it’s a straightforward 2-row repeat. Plus the bonus, it’s charted! Long written instructions for crochet make me go cross-eyed trying to figure out where I was. I wish every pattern were charted!

Extra: As I said, my first lace weight project in crochet (I’ve made stuff in thread, but that’s different, no?)

I’m half tempted to keep this for myself, perhaps for use in theatres and restaurants, where they tend to have the AC on too high (or should that be too low? Whatever…I’m always looking for the table at the furthest distance from the AC vents in dining rooms, or asking waiters to have the thing turned down (up?))

Or send it away to the friend who gifted me the yarn. Or something.

Hopeful

September 7, 2009 in Knitting | Tags: FOs, FOs - Knitting, Supplies | 14 comments

I came away to Hyderabad at the beginning of August, where I’m not online all the time, hence the long blog silence. I shall be here a few more weeks, but I thought I’d better show you some stuff I made. Although I didn’t make this one very recently, but a few months ago (finished it in April, to be precise).

I joined one of those KALs on Ravelry for a semi-circular shawl. I keep getting attracted to knit lace and mostly those patterns are for shawls. Sadly, there isn’t much call for shawls where I live, so I thought I’d try making this circular. I was also inspired by one of the other KAL-ers who was going to do the same thing. So here is my Vernal Equinox Shawl Surprise (I called it Hopeful, since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off).

It isn’t perfect, and you can see the ladders where I switched needles from the magic loop, as well as a botched picking-up I did for a stitch I dropped. Most of my step-by-step progress is on my Rav project page, but here are the salient details.

Yarn: Common or garden acrylic sold by the hank, about two hanks. I’d called it a fingering weight.

Needles: 3mm single circular, using magic loop.

Pattern: Vernal Equinox Shawl Surprise (Rav page) by Lankakomero, available as a free Rav download.

Time & Size: It was 54″ when pinned out to block, and took me about 9 weeks to knit. Part of the time may have been because I was discouraged by the mess I was making of the picking up.

Extra: My notes on Rav give the details. In the end, converting this from semi-circle to circle wasn’t very hard. With help from the designer, I began by dropping the edge stitches from the charts. So basically you work just the central block of stitches, and remember to double the stitch count that you must have on your needle at the end of each clue. Towards the end, I was quite happy, because the pattern is such that you know where in the chart you need to begin your next clue so that the design remains centered. No breaking your head over that bit.

This would make a lovely tablecloth if worked in thread, and of course I’d be much happier without those flaws, but learning-wise, I’m content. I need to tackle one of those triangles and turn it into a square one of these days. Which I hear there’s a group for on Rav (what is there no group for on Rav??!!).

Here in Hyd I’m happy reading, eating and occasional shopping, although that hasn’t included any yarn-related purchases. Before I forget yet again, I’d like to show off some gorgeous yarn I got from Deneen ages ago in the Three Prizes giveaway. Here it is:

Isn’t it lovely? It’s made of corn fibre and I love the colours. Sorry I haven’t blogged about it before, Deneen! I’m trying to see what sort of pattern it will suit.

Doily quartet.

July 21, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: Decor, doilie, Doilies, doily, filet, FOs, FOs - Crochet, lace | 15 comments

I sometimes wonder if I’m going to become a semi-split crafter. Most of the time the only thing that appeals to me in crochet increasingly is thin thread and therefore mostly doilies and lace, while with knitting I can still manage the bulky cables. I think of a pattern in crochet and run through the yarns in my stash mentally, and then I shudder at the bulk and density of the probable result. Many projects get shelved even before I take hook to yarn. But doilies – no problem. The lacier the better and any thread will do.

My mind is prejudiced for knitting as being thinner in general than crochet, so it feels as though yarn = knitting. Perhaps it is the general climate of where I live. I can’t really say. Can’t feel it matters, even.

So what’s my point? Nothing. Just thought I’d record what I’ve been thinking for a while now.

Now I’m going to drown you in crochet lace. Doilies, four of them. Run now if you can’t stand the things. Two are filet, and two non. I really enjoy filet, especially in the round.

This first one is from a Japanese publication, Living with Beautiful Crochet, published by Nihon Vogue. European and Asian crochet lace is always entertaining. Here is my Rav project page for it. And the Rav pattern page. Apart from the fact that this one begins in the centre and is worked outward, I loved that the final row is smooth, picot-less and with no jagged edges. The steps usually formed in filet patterns are my downfall, because I can never quite get them crisp, while picots anyway are a bugbear. This worked up at 24″ with a 1.5mm hook and the thread is a nameless lachha (hank) that has amazing yardage (@Rs 15). I raided Jaishree’s stash for this, since I was visiting her when the itch struck and I believe I hadn’t taken any of my WIPs with me. To ensure I had enough thread, I may have grabbed rather more than I should have, so naturally I had to find another project for the rest of the thread.

This one appealed to me immediately for its unusual shape. I just love how filet uses filled-in and vacant blocks and lacet stitches to create the illusion of shading in just one colour. This is the nearest I’ll ever get to painting or any other creative endeavour. Here are my Rav project page and pattern page. Filet also apparently goes quicker for me than other charted patterns, since you get into a groove counting off the blocks and rows. I enjoyed the bilateral symmetry of this design, which I believe is a vintage pattern and has several sources, including a free download at Freepatterns.com (you need to register at the site, also free). With the same 1.5mm hook, this one’s 18.75″ x 21.75″.

Both these have gone under the plastic on my dining table. I have a vision of making enough different doilies in white and then crocheting them together to make a tablecloth. No idea if it will ever come to fruition.

The next couple were sort of commissioned. A friend wanted a doily in beige or cream, so I made this one.

It’s actually called Clockwork White, and is from Magic Crochet magazine #60, June 1989, designed by Chantal Chevalier. As you can see, it has the dreaded picots. I used a 1.5mm hook with Jyoti thread for a finished size of 20″, but possibly could have used a 1.25mm one for better density. My project page is here, and the pattern page here. Unfortunately one of the stitches caught some colour from something else that ran, so I put this aside to make another one.

I chose this one for the unusual design, this time from Decorative Crochet #5 and it’s called Starflower, by Mayumi Sato (see, Japanese again). My project here and the pattern page on Rav here. The petals at the centre were made by a technique new to me, and the doily overall took longer than I anticipated to make. I used the advice of a fellow Raveller, and used a measuring tape pinned to the centre to make the circle mostly uniform in diameter (25.5″ with a 1.25mm hook, density of stitches much better).

We were chatting about blocking and decided we need to have bedsheets pre-printed with concentric circles and squares so blocking becomes easier 🙂 I use my spare bedroom bed for all my blocking. Failing pre-printed bedsheets, we could always mobilise an old plain sheet and use tailors’ chalk to make the shapes. This doily’s gone to its recipient now.

So there you have them, my last four doilies. The filet ones remain my favourites. How about you?

Two bags full

June 1, 2009 in Knitting | Tags: Accessories, FOs, FOs - Knitting, knit bag | 7 comments

My blog stats software tells me I still have visitors to this blog. Despite my lackadaisical attitude to posting. Thank you, all of you.

I recently went on a small bag binge (the binge was small, not the bags) and produced two violently coloured samples of knit bags with cables. One was a quick knit and the other had to suffer from my neglect for a while, but both came out fine. So I’m clubbing them together to present to you.

Here’s a very popular pattern.

Pattern: Brea by Norah Gaughan, free on the Berroco website (Rav link here). The sides went very quickly, as they start along the long edge and every other row is a decrease row. I almost confused myself with the moss stitch in the interstices, before realising it was double moss stitch. The gusset took a while longer, but the handle the longest. The pattern has you use a leather belt, but I didn’t have a suitable one. Although I got some D rings, the belt I had wouldn’t fit through and even if it did, how would I fasten it? After much agonising, I decided to do a knit handle, a simple 9-stitch cable from one of the Harmony Guides. That worked fine as far as it goes, but I think I shall have to unknit one or two repeats, as it has predictably stretched and I’m much happier with shoulder bags rather than long ones. Attaching the gusset to the sides was also difficult. I’m never happy making the horizontal knit match the vertical one. This one I managed with stitch markers, and starting and ending the seams at several places. Getting the lining to fit was another problem, as my cutting and sewing skills are absolutely zero. But it’s been finally done. My Rav project page is here.

Yarn: Woolcraft New Fashion Double Knitting, which a friend from the UK sent me, worked with two strands held together. Generic acrylic, I wouldn’t want it next to my skin.

Needles: 5.5mm

Time: The bag went by in a flash, the sewing up and lining took ages.

Size: 13″ x 7″

Extras: Loved the ingenuity of the side pattern, could have done without the separate gusset. I used 3 magnetic closures to close the top, my first time using the technology.

And here’s the second bag.

This one went on my Rav queue as soon as it entered the database, and I even cast on for it a few months ago. Then it went into hibernation, for reasons I discovered when I picked it up again to finish it.

Pattern: Quinn Cabled Bag by Yvonne Kao (Rav link here). It’s got plenty of cables, as you can see. Though there are some very interesting projects on Rav which modified it to work without the central panel or a different body. Those are on my favourites list, but obviously I haven’t got the ingenuity to make any such modifications. I’d made the top loop quickly enough, and then miraculously picked up stitches for the body without any undesired pleats. And then I took the needle tips off (I was using Denise circulars), placed the bag on stoppers and dumped it. As I discovered when I picked it up again, this wasn’t because of a problem with the pattern, but with my materials. The acrylic yarn on the Denise cables and the tight fit of the stitches on the needle made each row a struggle, not helped by the cables wanting to come off every time I tugged the stitches around. With a circular needle that has a thinner cable, you shouldn’t have a problem. There is a slight discrepancy between the top loop pattern as charted and the one that is shown in the pattern picture, but that isn’t something that makes a difference. It’s just a matter of whether the cables are crossing over or under. I bound off the body using a three needle bindoff, having no grafting ability to speak of. Also, I was in no mood to make 4×4 feet of 2-stitch I-cord, so I chose a slipped moss stitch pattern for the handle instead. It does curl a bit, but I’m ignoring that. Lining was mostly straightforward, as there was no gusset to worry about, but I had to think a bit to figure out how to attach the handle and sew the lining over it. I used a single magnetic closure, but I think I am going to add a zip so things don’t fall out. My Rav page here.

Yarn: Generic acrylic, the same that I swiped from Jaishree and made the Lambe bag with. I don’t know about wearables, but it’s good for bags, especially when held two stranded and worked at a slightly tighter gauge than usual. I still have two skeins left. Another bag perhaps.

Needles: 4mm. That at least was the size I ended the bag on, having forgotten completely what size I began with. Perhaps it was a different size, which might explain why the body seems to swell rather than remaining square. I think also that I am falling out of love with my resinous needles. Having the sizes all in one box is neat, but the cables are too thick.

Size: I haven’t measured it at all, but I should think about 13″ long and a few inches less wide. Whatever, the thing fits even my bulky sunglasses case and a book or a project quite nicely.

Time: The knitting itself didn’t take too long, but the effort of pushing the stitches round on the thick cable will stay with me for a while and made me push the project into hibernation for a few months. I think I actually thought that as the body went on, it would become easier, but it didn’t. Did I mention that I found the cable too thick?

Extra: The husband actually approves of this bag, which must make it unique among all my projects so far. It’s become my regular bag, which leaves the Brea free for me to give away perhaps. Let’s see.

I used iron-on interfacing for lining both these bags, a thicker version for Brea and a lighter one for Quinn. It does add structure to the bags, although it also adds time and effort to the cutting of the lining.

I haven’t got a third bag to show you, but a metaphoric bag went empty this morning when I got a cryptic email from a company I freelance for saying “Please don’t do any more edits.” Just that. You notice there are no specifics about whether they are talking about this day, this month or this life. So, it appears I have no career. Hence, only two bags full 😉

Oh, and I wanted to add, I tried a swatch with the small amount of stripey Sugar’n’Cream I’ve got left, and it wouldn’t work for the Ten Stitch Blanket. Let alone that these kitchen cottons don’t wash well, the colour lengths are too long. So that’s that. At least I seem to have inspired a few of my friends to add the pattern to their queues!

Dash it.

April 27, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: Accessories, FOs, FOs - Crochet | 6 comments

I’ve had my eye on the Ten Stitch Blanket (Rav link) (or the Ten Stitch Twist) by Frankie Brown (also Rav link) for a while now (and received a free copy of the magazine it was published in when I asked, although it is now free on Rav), but I want to make it in cotton, rather than wool. I’ve been looking to see if there are any nice cotton yarns with long enough colour lengths for it not to look weird too busy. There’s one yarn I found called Ty-Dy, but it retails at almost $16 per ball, which, if I buy 4 balls and then ship them to India, I’d end up with a really pricey baby blanket.

I didn’t particularly want to use kitchen cotton as I had the last time I made a knit blanket, but I realised on making a Rav search that most variegated/ombre yarns seem to be kitchen ones. Finally this evening I remembered I had a giant skein of Lily Sugar’n’Cream Confectionary Colors in various shades of brown (a RAK from a kind Raveller)…and went stash diving for it. Oh the tragedy. I’d totally forgotten that I used most of it to make this:

Which, while it scratched the itch I had to make the bag and use the yarn, totally devastates me now. I feel sure that the yarn would have been ideal for the baby blanket. Sighhhhhhh.

Anyway, since I’m here now, let me give you the details.

Pattern: Boxy Lady by Dawne Evans (pdxWoman on Rav). I don’t think this is available elsewhere, sorry. This is one of those patterns which draw you in with their photographs and prototypes. The original orange appealed to me immensely and the bag has been on my queue since it was published. It was only after I made it that I realised it is a shape I wouldn’t really use. 😦 My crochet/knitting life is full of such inappropriate choices. Ah well.

Yarn: The aforementioned (and now sorely lamented) Sugar’n’Cream Confectionary Colors. The skein had some 340gm, I think of which a third or so is left. Perhaps I can use it to swatch and see if my idea for the blanket will actually work. Then I might look for it on an ISO group or the RAK forum.

Hook: 4.5mm. Despite the fairly tight gauge, the bag is floppy. The stiffness comes from the lining, I suppose. Which, if you read further, you will see was a flop in mine.

Size: About 9″ square and high.

Time: About a week. I took longer to attach the lining (such as it is) than to make the bag itself.

Extra (from my Rav notes):

Easy to make, I almost took longer to sew the lining than the bag itself. I did 33 rows on the bottom and 33 rnds on the sides. A bit floppier than I expected. I intend adding a magnetic closure and seeing how well it will serve me as a handbag. I’m not very confident of the shape. Even the small pocket I made inside is flopping. Ah well, what can you expect from a satin nightie?
I used two sheets of plastic canvas and a sheet of sponge taken from a shirt insert for the bottom, but it is still quite floppy.
I had to rip about 8 rnds on the sides when I realised I was going around in a spiral when I should have joined and turned each time.

For the handle I used a parallel chain cord instruction and made miles of it. I initially thought I’d use it doubled, but even that seemed flimsy so I made enough to create a 4-ply length. I held the yarn doubled, with one strand from inside and one from outside the skein and though I took the trouble to match the colours, after a bit they went out of synch anyway.

—-

Recently I was sent some magnetic closures by a friend, and interfacing as well. I’m wondering if I should unsew the lining and fuse the interfacing and put in the closures. Then maybe I can find someone who’ll like it better than I do.

The funny thing is, just the other day I was thinking I had made a crochet cord for something but couldn’t for the life of me remember what! The mind, it is going.

Squares and triangles and polka dots.

March 30, 2009 in Crochet, Knitting | Tags: Accessories, crochet bag, FOs, FOs - Crochet, FOs - Knitting, knit bag | 8 comments

This particular pattern is very popular and I see that Ravelry alone has 647 projects made from it. My customisation was to make it a shoulder bag and add a knit thingummy.

Details:

Yarn: Acrylic that Yasmin sent me and I used for my Tunisian baby jacket a while ago. It’s squeaky and fuzzy, but works fine for a bag. Plus the colours go well together. I used up the pink completely, but have amounts of the white and purple left over.

Pattern: Haekelbeutel (PDF link, German also available), of course, by Inga Joana Mertens. The Rav page is here. Instead of making the 16 squares, I made 6 squares and 4 triangles, because it was fairly obvious that the number of rows I chose to make them would give me a huge sack and also, I was feeling too lazy to make so many of them. Since I had an even number of pieces and an odd number (3) of colours, I did my best to randomise the order of the colour changes, and then make two of each so the opposite sides of the bag would match. You could choose any square pattern, solid or not, as you wished, which is the beauty of this pattern. And the size of the square would determine how big your bag is. Nothing would stop you from knitting the squares, either. Although then it would be a Strickebeutel, I suppose. (Mine is just a Beutling, should have been a Beutchen).

Hook: 3.00mm

Size: About 13″ x 8″

Time: About 4 days to finish the bag and as many weeks months to actually line it. No, about 2 months to line it. Seriously, I’m terrified of sewing, whether by hand or machine.

Extra #1. I used the polka dot fabric from the dress I blogged about almost a month ago. Nobody could ever accuse me of having an eye for colour or taste. (Polka dots with stripes! In non-matching colours!) Luckily, my revulsion of feeling after the lining was done was not matched by everyone and I gave the bag away to the MIL who took a shine to it. I also made a tiny pouch for a cell phone with the leftover bits of fabric. More pics on either my Flickr page ( click through from that photo) or my Rav project page.

#2. Even with such a simple construction, I confused myself when crocheting the pieces together and had to frog once not to end up with an unidentifiable 3D object like one of those hyperbolic art pieces.

#3. My favourite part of the bag though is the two-colour thingummy I made at the top. Due entirely to my tight gauge with two yarns, the thingummy (is a technical term, I swear) drew in on itself, thus making an opening smaller than the actual bag body. Neat, what? I went around on a circular needle after picking up stitches around the top, knit in stockinette for as long as I wanted the thingummy to be high, then purled one row with a contrast colour, knit for the same number of rows again. Folded it over at the purl row (which forms a natural hinge) and knit the final row together with the back of the first row. Voila, a nice neat thingummy. Makes me proud, it does. The actual knitting involved knitting the stitches of one colour on one pass while slipping the stitches of the other colour, and then doing the reverse on the second pass. I must strand very tightly, hence the thing drew together to become smaller than it began its life. On the inside I just used the white and left the purple out. Perhaps I slipped stitches again…how did the inside end up as small as the outside? Maybe a different size needle. Hmm.

#4. The handle was a lengthwise chain followed by sort of tapestry crocheting (crocheting over the unused colour), attached to curtain rings with their hooks broken off and crocheted over.

That’s it, really. And I don’t even have to carry it around.

Three prizes – pass it on

March 5, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: Fun | 7 comments

I got this from Deneen.

The first three people to comment will get something fibery from me!

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a fibery gift – yarn or thread. Ok?

Orange, not gold

March 2, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: child dress, FOs, FOs - Crochet, Kids, Wearables | 3 comments

Why are they called goldfish? I’d call them orangefish myself, but then I’m too literal and prosaic. Not that they aren’t charming, as “What’s in a name” and all that. Yes, I’m now the owner of a small aquarium, with a pair of fantailed (or is it veiltailed) goldfish. I’d also got a pair of cute tiger barbs and (I think) platies, but they were hassling the goldfish, so I’ve changed them over for a pair each of balloon mollies and sharkfish. (Don’t mind me if I’m calling all the fish by the wrong names, I’m a fishkeeping novice). And then on Sunday we went to an aquarium expo and I picked up two pearlscaled goldfish.

Actually, I’ve been wanting a change in the colour spectrum, but I ended up coming home with those gold (orange) creatures once again. Ah well. Maybe one day I shall get my wish and end up with some nice blue and green ones. Or purple. And I definitely fell in love with those platies or whatever, bright orange with black tails and fins. Perhaps I should just have taken the smaller fish and not the large goldfish, because these are heavy eaters, and just as heavy in their, er…you know.

I haven’t got any good pictures of the fish. I have enough difficulty managing passable pictures of stationary objects in sunlight so you can imagine how troublesome it is to get any of flashing, flashy live creatures in a moving medium. I might one day. So until then I’ve decided to divert your attention with some other orange stuff. I’m quite kicked about this. Find my Rav page here.

This was a birthday present for the daughter of a friend back in December. And since I like to be pedantic, here are the details in my usual format.

Yarn: Some yarn that I think Heide sent me. I suppose it is some kind of acrylic, because there was no label, and a burn test made it melt. It’s about fingering weight and I have oodles left over.

Hook: 4.00mm

Pattern: I grafted the yoke from the Sweet Pea Dress (Rav link) by Sue Childress (from Crochet World Magazine, April 2008, available here from e-patternscentral.com as a PDF) on to a skirt that I sewed myself. I was very happy with the skirt bit, because for once I sewed reasonably straight lines on the sewing machine. But of course I couldn’t quite trust myself to sew the yoke to the skirt using the machine, what with it being a mix of media, yarn and cloth, so that bit I did by hand. The gathers came out fine, too. I actually tried to find a ready pattern in knit or crochet which would have all the instructions, but I didn’t find one I liked enough or was simple enough.

I didn’t want to make a full acrylic dress either, and anyway I’d had problems with the pattern when I tried making it. So this incarnation is much better.

Size: It fit a new three-year-old quite nicely, and I hope it will fit her for some time.

Time: About 4 days, and I did the sewing in one day.

Extra: It’s orange! Should have been pink, perhaps, since the recipient loves that colour, but I thought this was bright enough, wouldn’t you say? Initially my friend said she found it too hot, but apparently later went through a phase, as children do, of refusing to wear anything else to the park every evening. Made me happy. I hope that was true.

I know I’m not blogging frequently enough, but I find that all the bits and pieces of information I find it necessary to note down I do on Rav, leaving me with little to add elsewhere. Somehow I’m not confortable any longer blogging without a knit or crochet project to write about. The rest of my day is too dull to blog. It does make the blog monotonous, and intermittent, so I’m really grateful to you, my readers for sticking with me.

Pinkish prose

February 4, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: FOs, FOs - Crochet, Me, Pattern Testing, Wearables | 11 comments

More posing. You can tell I hate being photographed. But I love this top and for those I love, I can do anything. Well, most things. I’d loved the design when it first entered the Ravelry database, so when the designer said she was going to release it as a separate pattern and wanted people to test it, I jumped at the chance. Not to divert from tradition, I give you all the gory details.

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Catania that a certain someone gave me. It has a nice shiny finish, and it was the same weight as the design recommends. However, I had to go down a few hook sizes to make gauge. I used about 5 skeins.

Hook: 3.25mm

Pattern: Marquise by Julia Vaconsin. It’s a Ravelry download. It was originally published in Yarn Forward magazine, Spring 2008. My project page is here. The stitches used are simple. The key is an ability to count stitches and remember those counts, because those are what make the shape. The darts are cleverly done, and the neck insert lace is lacy without being indecent, and the shells give a nice contrast to the ribbed structure of the rest of the body. Oh, and this pattern is available in child sizes as well.

Time: It took me about 6 weeks, however this was because we went to Europe for 3 of those weeks, and while I did carry the pattern and the project with me, understandably nothing got done on it, although I showed it to Carla.

Size: Small. I chose this size since Julia suggested it would look better with negative ease for someone who has curves.

Extra #1 This was my first ever top in either knit or crochet. I love the result, but I haven’t yet worn it out to an event. Nothing seems festive enough while allowing western wear, but we shall see.

#2 I loved the chance to work with a versatile designer (Julia designs both knit and crochet items and speaks at least 3 different languages). It gives me the shivers 🙂

Solomon’s Spiral

January 25, 2009 in Crochet | Tags: Accessories, FOs, FOs - Crochet, Pattern Testing | 13 comments

Excuse that Bollywood pose. I wasn’t quite sure how a circular shawl is used and the designer suggested it should be folded in half. And I’d written this post before, only to have it disappear on me when I clicked on “Save Draft”. So here we go again in the time-honoured fashion. Because I’m dull and predictable that way.

Yarn: The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes. A merino/tencel blend meant for socks, I presume. I was hazy about tencel, apparently it’s a manmade plant-based fibre. I used just over one skein. I’m wary about multicoloured yarns in crochet but this pattern being open, the effect was of an eerie spiral. Besides, it was a new experience for me, working with the yarn that the pattern was designed for. Jen was kind enough to have the yarniste mail me the yarn so I could use it.

Hook: 3.25mm

Pattern: Miss Austen by Jennifer Benson (queenmamajen on Ravelry). It’s a Ravelry download. My project page is here.

Time: About a month. It took me that long not because of any difficulty with the pattern, but because of my short attention span. I think it’s funny that I should be making so many shawls with my propensity to wander.

Size: 65″. It barely fit on the guest bed for blocking.

Extra #1 The highlight for me was learning how to make neater bullions with the help of a trick learnt from this video.

#2 I’ve sent it off in a swap and hope the recipient likes it. She did say she did, but then she would, wouldn’t she? She might not even be a shawl person.

Warning! Blue funk alert!

I don’t know why, but I’m increasingly convinced my knitting/crochet is pointless. Don’t misunderstand me, I enjoy the process, but I’m not so sure the product I produce is worthwhile. Perhaps it’s just a phase. I make these things and none of them are adapted to where or how I live. There’s no theme to my doilies, for example, and I don’t use shawls. Few of my friends with babies live in cold places…Let’s see. In the past few weeks I’ve heard: the block and offset shells blanket I made with so much expectation for a friend never made it to her. It might still be there with her mom, but I’m not hopeful. The kid I made it for will outgrow it soon. Then there is the crochet cable hat I made and gave my husband, who carries it whenever we visit a cold place, but he wouldn’t like to be seen wearing it. There’s a doily I gave a friend who clearly cherishes it as a gift, but can only drape it over her dressing table mirror because it’s such a useless piece of work. A baby dress I made and was quite proud of…the child didn’t like it, although the mother said she did. Then I volunteer to test patterns but my work never lives up to the designer’s intentions. Quite dispiriting actually.

Nevermind. It keeps me busy and has given me new friends. This wasn’t intended as a whine, just a record, ok? My next post will be all bright and cheery :p Upward spiral, ok? Honest!