Crochet Ho

Yep, that's me. My kids had a birthday party to go to yesterday and parents weren't invited. (The mother asked if I was offended by that - I had to restrain myself from giving her a big wet smooch.) Since I had a couple hours of free time, I took myself over to JoAnn's (no, I did not buy myself an Incredible Sweater Machine - but only because they didn't have them at the JoAnn's I wandered into). They did have the most recent Family Circle Easy Knitting & Crochet. Now, Jillian brought this mag to the crochet class and I flipped through it then, but didn't think there was anything I'd like to do. Yesterday was a different story. I saw the pattern for this



and decided I needed to expand my crochet repertoire. So I bought a 'J' hook and a crochet pamphlet to try my hand. I didn't buy any yarn as it was mostly the Red Heart variety (and because I don't need any). I swatched the scarf in 3 different yarns and felt a little like Goldilocks (too scratchey, too stiff, just right). Finally settled on some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (55% merino, 33% microfiber, and 12% cashmere). It's dreamy to work with and as a result, I'm about halfway through the scarf. It was a little like eating potato chips - can't do just one row. The one thing I had a problem with was 'dc'. I kept reading it as decrease instead of double crochet. Once I could 'read' the pattern, it went pretty quickly.

What I really love are these:

The scan doesn't show up too well, but they are so adorable! There will be 4 of these little flowers on each short end of the scarf. Again, once I figured out how to make my fingers work, they work up very quickly.

As I was on a crochet high, I thought it might be a good idea to finish the Mountain Colors Vest. It is now finished and looks lovely. I think I ripped out each edging at least twice. It was hard to get it just right; it either puckered from not enough stitches picked up to being wavy from picking up too many. I finally settled on a 2-to-1 pickup (pick up 2 stitches, skip 1). I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I also ripped out the ill fitting Koigu sock, and reknit it. Though I'm still not completely happy with it, it stays as is. I think the problem really is that I cast on too many stitches for the ribbing (I hate tight fitting socks). Since this is the first time I've knit with Koigu, I really had no idea how much it would stretch. It fits nicely on my leg, but leaves way too many stitches to be decreased in the gusset area. As a result, the gusset/decrease area is too tall. It looks a little funky, but fits fine. I think this is what also contributed to my running out of yarn. Can you see the darker yarn in the toe area? Next time, I'll swatch more carefully and I'll have a better idea of how Koigu works up.

I think I'm out of my slump.