Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday - A craft week which took an unusual turn

 

I would have said "No way" if the fortune teller had predicted for me last Friday: You will spend the coming week crocheting. But she would have been right. It started with the arrival of the baby alpaca lace from Knit Picks which I mentioned last Friday. You know the stuff which has me wanting to stroke baby alpacas all day because they are soooooooo soft. Here's a picture:

#1 Baby alpaca

 

I have enough of each color for 3 very ample crocheted shawls or scarves. Let me answer some questions you may be thinking: Why crocheted shawls/scarves? Because past mistakes taught me that it would take me a lifetime to knit in lace and there are very few patterns for crocheted lace garment. Why these colors? Because they were the ones on sale. And I am sooooo cheap.

 

Looking for the right pattern for my baby alpacas, all last week I worked on the A Little of This a Little of That Shawlette pattern from Ravelry which I linked to last Friday:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-little-of-this-a-little-of-that-shawlette

 

It turns out this is not the pattern for my alpaca beauties but I did make 4 shawls from this pattern during the week. (Yes, I really like this pattern.) 1. The prototype where I didn't understand what I was doing a lot of the time. 2. In heavy cotton, where I followed the directions to the letter as I read them (obviously not as the designer read them since the back cluster area on her Ravelry page shawl is not the same as mine.) 3. In crochet thread where I worked rows 1 - 23 then rows 12 - 16. 4. In purple Wool Ease (what was I thinking when I picked that color up?)

 

# 2 I love it!

All the shawls have returned to the frog pond except #3 in cotton thread.  O.A. modelling it in pic 2. This shawl answers a goal I've had for a long time: a summer shawl over camis, long enough to cover my shoulder skin and light enough for hot weather. I love it! Which is surprising because I almost never work beyond 4 row crochet patterns and this pattern has 31 rows. Plus, it is written by a designer who prefaces her Ravelry page with: this is my first shawl design.

 

There was an understanding curve for me with this pattern and I never did figure out the few rows starting with Row 14.

 

#3 Trouble spot marked

Pic #3 has the marker on Row 14 as I interpreted it. This is a double crochet cluster row and the marker shows that you skip these clusters right in the middle of the row. However, my interpretation of the directions (which I thought was correct) does not produce anything like the pic on the Ravelry page. (I think the design change on Row 14 is necessary to change the cluster count for Row 18 where you alternatively work double crochet and triple crochet clusters across.) But the pattern is so great that I was able to fudge these rows and you can see from pic #2 that I just worked clusters straight across.

 

After having said I love this pattern, let me add: it's not for timid beginner crocheters since you'll be doing some serious and not-so-serious interpretations. Just one simple problem is Row 1 which reads: ch 4, dc, ch 1, 7xs in circle, ch4. First question: since each instruction ends with a comma do you just ch 1 7xs in the circle (pretty tough to do), dc and ch1 7xs in the circle (easy to do) or ch4, dc, then ch1 7xs in the circle (another possibility)? Of course she means: Ch 4, dc & ch 1 7xs in the circle, ch 4, turn. But that would mean your end turning chain would have 5 chains, not 4 (you have to add the 7th ch1 of "dc, ch1".) However, you're only supposed to have a 4-chain turning chain because Row 2 begins with "Ch 4 counts as 1 dc & ch1 of V." So this is how I would write R 1: Ch 4, *dc, ch1* 6xs in circle, 1 dc in circle, ch 4. 

 

Row 1 is only a minor problem but it gets slightly more difficult on some following rows. This was one of the few crochet patterns where I would have liked to see a chart.

 

But if you are an adventurous beginner crocheter, do not be put off by these minor challenges. A good part of this craft is analyzing and tweaking patterns to fit your needs. What is a real plus here is that if you hit the wall with some rows you can "do your own thing." As you can see from pic #2, I definitely did that.

 

A couple of final thoughts:

1. I won't be blocking this shawl because I like the puffiness of the clusters which you can see in the unfinished picture of the shawlette in pic #4. You lose the puffiness with blocking.

#4 Puffy clusters

2. This would only be a short, light summer shawlette for me. (I never did work through all the rows.) It's a gorgeous look but not my style.

3. Considering I worked up 4 shawls in less than 7 days, this is definitely a fast crochet. I wonder how it might work as bridemaids' cover-ups.

4. If this is your style for a long shawl, the purple Wool Ease I started (then frogged) was working up into a very nice shawl as you can see in pic #4. 

5. This pattern has "resting rows" where you don't do any increasing (R 13) and you could repeat these for added width.

6. I worked single crochets around the top of the shawl, placing them as Teri suggested.

 

So that was how I spent my last week in crafts; very unexpected. Now I'm looking at scads of purple Wool Ease and I'm saying What? as in what am I going to make fast with it? I'm thinking of a light scarf, a very long light scarf. Plus, I just can't keep stroking the softness on my alpaca, there must be a pattern(s) for them. More on this next Friday.

 

Happy Knitting.