Crochet
Blooming corsage progress.
May 10, 2009 01:37
The crochet thread I ordered arrived, and it is lovely! Summer Straw, Tea Rose, Aqua, and Wintergreen. So pretty, and so thin. No mistaking it for yarn, that's for certain. On the very same day a mess of skinny little steel crochet hooks I won on eBay also arrived: 11 different sized hooks for $6.50 including shipping. That’s 60 cents per hook -- less than half what they cost at the craft store. My kind of bargain!
Here is the rose I started from the Corsage in Bloom pattern. It was a bit awkward at first working on such a small scale, but I’m getting used to it and now it’s as fun as working with a regular sized hook and yarn. The Coats Opera thread has a lovely sheen and works up easily. The flower is really taking shape. See all those scallopy petals? By the time I'm done there will be 392 double crochet stitches on the outer edge!
I used to think big needles were it. My first knitting projects were on big size 11 and 13 needles, so size 8 and 9 felt comparatively small, and the work felt like it progressed so slowly. Now I appreciate the feel of petite projects in my hands and I look forward to knitting Kenny's kilt hose on size 4s and using this wee hook for making pretty little flowers. It reminds me to slow down, be patient, and really see what I’m doing. And it takes less time to complete smaller projects ... which is contrary to the “slow down” idea, but who doesn’t want to see the finished project sooner than later?
Here is the rose I started from the Corsage in Bloom pattern. It was a bit awkward at first working on such a small scale, but I’m getting used to it and now it’s as fun as working with a regular sized hook and yarn. The Coats Opera thread has a lovely sheen and works up easily. The flower is really taking shape. See all those scallopy petals? By the time I'm done there will be 392 double crochet stitches on the outer edge!
I used to think big needles were it. My first knitting projects were on big size 11 and 13 needles, so size 8 and 9 felt comparatively small, and the work felt like it progressed so slowly. Now I appreciate the feel of petite projects in my hands and I look forward to knitting Kenny's kilt hose on size 4s and using this wee hook for making pretty little flowers. It reminds me to slow down, be patient, and really see what I’m doing. And it takes less time to complete smaller projects ... which is contrary to the “slow down” idea, but who doesn’t want to see the finished project sooner than later?
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By the way ... I can crochet.
May 05, 2009 09:30
I recently taught myself how to crochet JUST so I could make this scarf. Between my learn to crochet book and the charts on this pattern, I was able to struggle through several attempts at working the scarf, repeated ripping when my effort didn't match any of the examples on Ravelry, finally making a breakthrough on how to correctly execute a double crochet, and wow! I was hooked. (Yes, that is an intentional crochet pun, which I'm sure I inherited from thousands of crocheters before me.) I easily memorized the repeats and couldn't put the project down. Then I manically tried it in about six other yarns on various hook sizes. I went a little crazy, but I've settled down now and I'm back to the kilt hose as my main project. I am looking forward to making many more of these! Friends and family can count on getting one as a gift sometime in the future.
The yarn is Dalegarn Svale in ivory. I bought this single skein from a LYS because it was recommended for a counterpane afghan I wanted to knit for my mom. The total cost for said afghan would have been something absurd like $150 using this yarn! So although I loved my dear old mom, I opted instead for about a ton of white Cotton-Ease at less than $5 per ball. White CE is much more fitting for a counterpane anyway, so the Svale became this pretty, too-short Anne Lace scarf. It's more of a collar or choker when wrapped around twice. Secured with a ceramic rose pin of my mom's, I think it looks quite romantic! Okay, not with the pink tee shirt and gardening sunburn.
I'm so confident in my new crocheting skills that I've already started the "French Country" hat (with the crocheted mum) from JooJooBees. And the next project in my cue is Corsage in Bloom, a pretty posie of roses and lily of the valley made with a skinny little size 7 steel crochet hook. Yikes! It's like crochet in miniature. I'm going for it, though--I picked up the wee li'l hook at Tom Thumb Hobby in Evanston (you should see this thing, it's super skinny!), and ordered the recommended Coats Opera Crochet Thread. Thread. I'm going from big fat yarn to little old thread? No matter, I can't wait to get started!
