Secret Project #4

Did I mention I love being a pattern tester? Well you can add in contract crocheter as well. I have another secret project!! All the WIPs are on hold now as I have a special quick project to crochet for Robyn [Ravel It!]. I can show you the yarn this time. I wish you could touch it...it's amazingly soft and luxurious. And just look at that little Alpaca face..

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WIP: Garden Party Wrap

I just love being a pattern tester! Kim Guzman, aka crochetkim, was kind enough to ask a gang of us at Yahoo crochet-a-long to be her guinea pigs for her first laceweight pattern, Garden Party Wrap [Ravel It!]. Known to most of us as GPW now, this pattern is beautiful, and popular. She really hit it big with this one. It has been holding it's own as #1 new crochet pattern at Ravelry for almost a week now. I thought this would be a cool project to try out my ChainLink 2007 yarn purchase.. Just Our Yarn's "Aziza" [Ravel It!]. A zillion other things have been absorbing my time unfortunately so I have not made it very far on this project. Nonetheless, here's where I am so far...

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The Button Conundrum...

I just can't decide!!! I have to figure out what Purple Haze needs so it can become wearable. Can it handle buttons through the pattern as intended or does it need the structure of adding a button placket? Will a button placket detract from the look of the sweater? Do I start with the somewhat ornate pewter buttons and see if the stitch pattern can hold these buttons? I have 5 of these so I could space them out as shown. I do think these buttons would work if I decided to add a placate, but would they be secure in the pattern holes? I guess I have to try this first.

If the oval buttons don't hold well and I decide the placate changes the look of the sweater too much then I might need a longer button that would stay in place better. I've been searching to no avail and am actually thinking of stealing the buttons off Twyla (these plain pewter, almost toggle-like buttons). In this photo, Twlya is stuffed inside Purple Haze so the button spacing was determined by where they are sewn on Twlya. I only have four of these buttons so I would have to space them out a bit more than shown.

Twyla would then need new buttons! I guess I could see if Twyla's pattern stitch can handle the more ornate oval pewter buttons. I have plenty of the yarn left from Twyla so I could tighten up the button holes as needed.





I also have some wooden toggle buttons or these round pewter buttons.....












Finally, I found buttons to use to make 3 linked-button closures for Drops 97-1. I really like how the color of the pewter buttons matches the edging and how the heart shape blends with the V-stitch pattern. What do you think?

FO: Purple Haze

Can you believe it? I finally finished Purple Haze. Well, almost.... I still have to find buttons. It's been a while since I began crocheting it back during my infamous sweater weekend. Nonetheless, I actually wore it this past weekend with a linked button closure that I created on the fly (just so I could try the sweater) but I don' t like the way it pulls on the pattern. It looks like the sweater barely fits around me but that's not the case. Without closures, the weight of the sweater with the yarn-intensive shell pattern drags the sweater down. I had planned to use a whole slew of these little sphere buttons, but the pattern holes stretch too easily so it needs larger, plain (IMHO), pewter buttons. Either that or I might have to rethink creating a button placket with actual button holes so the pull on the pattern is more distributed. So, I'm still thinking about the buttons. In the mean time here are the details...

Project details:
Pattern: Purple Haze [Ravel It!] by Lauren Irving [Ravel It!] published at Crochet Me
Size: Purple Haze can be made in a variety of sizes - you can mix and match your sizes based on waist & bust measurements.
Style: There are 3 different sweater lengths (cropped, hip length, or peplum hem) and an optional collar. My sweater is hip length with no collar.
Yarn: Gedifra 'Cotton Merino' [Ravel It!]
Colorway: Purple
Hook: Brittany 5.0mm H hook, 5.5mm I hook for edging
Pattern Changes:

• Back panel - as written except for lengthening it by 2 rows through the waist, and raising the back neckline as Lauren described in the comments on the Crochet Me website.
• Front panels - in addition to lengthening by 2 rows, I modified the armhole increases so they would end at the same row as the back panel (I needed that symmetry... sorry Lauren!). The front arm hole increases still start earlier as Lauren intended.

Previous Posts:

• Last Progress report
• My initial struggle to make sense of the pattern

I think the armholes ended up a bit too big in the end, but I think I can live with that. I need to resolve the button issue before I can give my final opinion on this project. I still love the stitch pattern. I used a slightly heavier yarn than called for and with the weight of the shell pattern I think that was a mistake. I'm hoping I can use buttons, with or without a placket, to achieve a better fit.

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