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.

[Ravel It!] links for Ravelry members only... Join now it's amazing!
All other links accessible by all.

WIP: Purple Haze progress

Purple Haze was the third sweater I began during my infamous sweater weekend. I'm making this one for me, using Gedifra 'Cotton Merino'. Unlike the other two sweaters, this one has gone more slowly as I struggled to make sense of the pattern. Don't let that dissuade you from making this though. Lauren Irving is a great new designer. She thinks "out of the box" as they say and subsequently this sweater is just shaped a little differently. Thankfully Lauren patiently responded to my e-mails and helped me step a bit out of my comfort zone. Purple Haze can be made in a variety of sizes - you can mix and match your sizes based on waist & bust measurements. You can choose from 3 different sweater lengths (cropped, hip length, or peplum hem) and choose to add a collar, or not. Mine is going to be hip length with no collar (I think).

So finally I have significant progress to report on PH. The back panel is complete and blocking - as written except for lengthening it by 2 rows, and raising the back neckline. The front panels are complete and blocking as well (in fact I've already seamed the shoulders). In addition to lengthening them by 2 rows, I modified the front panel 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.

Now for possible buttons.... I bought 3 sets of buttons at the LYS yesterday. The white ones in the middle are pretty but not for this sweater. The petals or flowers are pink - perfect for some yarn in my stash.... The other two sets are possibilities, but neither one is a winner for me yet. Are the pewter ones too ornate for this textured stitch? And although the "black ones" have a pretty purple opalesence in them, are they too stark? Any thoughts?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I'm currently crocheting the first sleeve and I'm really hoping to make significant progress in the next 3 days, because finished or not this moves to the back burner on January 1st (Robyn's project trumps PH).

FO: Two-Toned Pullover

Another sweater finished in November (but not quite in time for his 8th birthday) was Alex's Two-toned Pullover. This one was also started in October, during the infamous sweater weekend, and greatly benefited from my late night hooking marathons during my beloved Red Sox' World Series romp!

Project details:
Pattern: Two-toned Pullover found at freepatterns.com
Size: Child 8
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft - worsted weight - 100% acrylic - ~800 yds
Colorway: gray and navy
Hooks: Brittany G (4.0mm) and G7 (4.5mm) hooks
Gauge: 14 st x 14 rows = 4 x 4 inches
Pattern Changes:

• After completing the "front" panel, I decided it wasn't as wide as needed and the neck was too high (not large enough opening). The back panel was supposed to be a simple rectangle with no neck shaping. So, the "front" panel became the back panel.
• The new front panel was modified to be wider at the bottom (starting chain increased by 8 chains), decreasing at the armholes to match the width of the back panel (the side seams will be slightly to the back) and also to have a larger neck hole.
• My ds is way too skinny a kid to wear sleeves that aren't tapered. So I decreased the starting chain at the cuff and increased every few rows to create tapered sleeves. I modeled these sleeves off the "Boys Geometric sweater" I made him before I started blogging - from the now defunct Solutia website.

WIP: Purple Haze

I might have thrown Purple Haze from Crochet Me in the UFO or Frog pile but for 2 reasons - 1. I love the look of the sweater too much to give up and (here's the big reason) 2. Lauren Irving (the designer) has practically held my hand while I slowly stepped OUT of my comfort box and tried something new. In the end, there is progress to report, although most of it, so far, is in my level of understanding of the pattern.

This was the third sweater I began during my sweater weekend at the beginning of the month. I'm making this one for me, using Gedifra 'Cotton Merino'. Unlike the other two sweaters, this one has gone more slowly as I struggled to understand the pattern. Now if I were one to just crochet a pattern, follow the directions and hope it works out in the end, I would probably be wearing Purple Haze right now. My passion for understanding a pattern before I make it, for having a vision of how it's going to look, and for practically memorizing the schematics usually saves me hours of heartache. I can catch the errors, see how the pattern needs to be modified to fit my body and make changes without excessive cycles of hooking and frogging. I have, on rare occasion, been able to blindly follow a pattern when I don't know the outcome exactly. This requires knowing and trusting the designer. I can do this when testing for Robyn, like on secret project 2, when even she wasn't sure how exactly it was going to turn out. (Actually I'm sure she did in her head, just not on paper.) In the future, I'll be able to do this with Lauren. Her e-mails have been insightful helping me to understand her "out of the box" approach to this sweater. It's funny, usually by the time I finished writing my e-mail to her asking questions, I had furthered my understanding so much that I would end each e-mail, with "I think I get it now". She would begin each e-mail "Yes, you get it". I'm waiting on one final e-mail back from Lauren and then I think I'm good to go. I'm going to frog back this a bit, I made the armhole too long (gauge problem) and then I think I'll be off to the races! Thank you to Lauren for answering e-mails, to Kim for creating (and re-creating) Crochet Me and to Jess & Casey for sharing their brilliant idea known as Ravelry with the world. (I first contacted Lauren through her Purple Haze project page on Ravelry.)

I will make this sweater....

WIP: Ballet Sweater

Simply put, it's almost done... I'm talking about Abby's Ballet sweater by Lion Brand in Grape LB Chunky USA. I started it during my sweater weekend, and it really flew. I had finished all the pieces back on 10/12. Here they are on my blocking board. As you can probably see, the front and back panel had been blocked, but the sleeves were just laid out.


The pieces are assembled, and all that remains is to edge the front panels. The pattern calls for a picot on the surplice edge, dropping to simple sc on the neckline. I hope to finish that and weave in the ends at Abby's ballet class on Tuesday.

WIP: Twyla

I fell in love with the Twyla Cardigan by Berroco immediately because of the stitch pattern. It's different and textured and just "spoke to me". Finding the right yarn was a different story until I hit the JCA sale last fall. I saw this Reynolds 'Gypsy' - 100% cotton, 82yds/50g, 5st/inch which I bought in 3 colorways. The 'ocean blue' was calling to me across the sale floor, "Twyla, Twyla, Twyla". Well being sick and tired of assembling the motif cardi was just the impetus I needed to start this cardi. I've done a fair amount of frogging on this one as it requires more attention than I've been giving it - I think once I settle down and give it some uninterrupted time it will go fairly quickly. I have about 11 inches done on the back panel. The blue yarn is really pretty. It has 3 different shades of blue plied together.

WIP: Vintage Motif Cardi

Vintage Motif cardigan - a CAL at both Yahoo crochet-a-long and Crochetville using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Mulled Wine and my Brittany 5.0mm H hook. Progress has picked up, but I haven't had a chance to blog about it. Let's see if I can piece together (ugh, no pun intended) what has happened since my last report.

I posted at Crochetville on April 16th that I had finished making all the squares, and had begun weaving in ends and assembling sections (front panels, back, sleeves) and blocking the sections after assembly. In this photo I had assembled the front two panels - the one on the left was blocked the previous night and was dry. The one on the right was wet, just blocked. Also in the photo are 16 of the 25 panels for the back pinned on my board (where I put them back in February - they were the first 16 squares done) surrounded by the other 9 for the back and the remaining giant pile of squares!!

As of the 18th, I had assembled and blocked the first sleeve, and was beginning to worry that even with a 3rd row of 4 squares, the sleeves are so, so short. On the 2oth the 2nd sleeve was assembled and blocked and I had started weaving in ends of the back panel squares.

As of the 23rd, my concerns grew to include the huge gussets! Here is a photo of the sweater laid out with one sleeve all sewn in. I was thinking about making a smaller gusset, maybe 4 rounds instead of 8.
In the end I sewed the 2nd sleeve in without a gusset and this is where I stand now. I have to remove that first gusset and possibly use these 2 squares towards longer arms - maybe that easing 4 squares to 2 squares as the pattern suggests. I guess I could try that on one arm and see. At this point, I figure I'll do the body edging first and then see how much yarn I have. I'll probably end up just edging cuffs until I run out of yarn...

I was sidetracked from this by the need to pack for my niece's wedding, by my desire to hook instead of sew (hence I started Twyla), by my dd's desire to have a matching shrug for her sundress (for the post wedding brunch).

FO: Spring Flower Cardigan

I thought I was on schedule to finish this for my niece's 4/28 wedding, then Abby asked last weekend if she could wear it on Easter Sunday! Well, it's finished with days to spare!! This is my version of Tammy Hildebrand's Spring Flowers Cardigan. The original pattern is in Crochet! May 2006. After swatching many patterns, I had decided on this pattern even though it is written for size 3 thread. The pattern had a few glitches, I even sent an e-mail to Crochet! magazine one evening. Get this... they called me back the very next morning!! Of course, I had found a glitch their editors had missed, or at least that's how I interpreted our telephone conversation. Nonetheless, I was impressed by the prompt reply. In the end I made my own modifications as usual.

Final result - Abby's happy, and that's what matters! (Photo taken by her 7yo big brother Alex!)

Project details:
Pattern: Tammy Hildebrand's Spring Flowers Cardigan, Crochet! May 2006.
Yarn: Gedifra 'Wellness', a worsted weight cotton/acrylic blend (~780 yds)
Hook: Brittany 4.5mm hook
Pattern Changes: (as always)

1. I used ww yarn instead of thread. I determined that my gauge (7hdc = 2in, 6 rows in pattern = 2.25 inches) together with the pattern as written for size 2 would match the measurements of the size 6 (determined by the published thread gauge).
   
2. Body was completed as written, except that I added another 3 row pattern repeat to match the size 6 length of 12.5" (I realized later this is really long, by the way).
   
3. Front panel tops were completed as written except that the pattern contains an error in the neck shaping area of the fronts. As written the shaping occurs every third row such that the shaping would be at both the neck opening and the armhole opening. I assumed this was an error and proceeded with shaping every third row, only at the neck edge.
   
4. Back top was completed as written.
   
5. Sleeves presented another problem. Sleeves were crocheted in the round on the sweater after the shoulder seams were joined. The number of stitches the pattern called for (size 2 or 6) was way too few to fit around a 12 inch circumference armhole (correct for size 6). I just crocheted an even number, matching my gauge and ended up with 42 hdc around. The original pattern calls for no tapering, just a gathering at the wrist with a row of scdec. Of course I changed this as well. I followed the 2 row pattern as written, but added tapering with a hdcdec under the arm and at the top of the sleeve on rows 9, 15, 21, 25 and 29. So my stitch count ended up as follows: rows 1-8 (42 st), rows 9-14 (40st), rows 15-20 (38st), rows 21-24 (36st), rows 25-28 (34st), rows 29-30 (32st). Because I added the tapering, I changes the first cuff row from scdec around to (scdec, sc) around. I did the final edging row of the cuff as written.
   
6. Buttonhole band was done mostly as written. Row 1 - I needed 48 sc to span my right front edge. Rows 2-3 as written. Row 4 - I evenly spaced 6 buttonholes (7hdc in between each) using only ch1, sk1 (not ch2, sk2) as buttonhole as I have small buttons. Row 5 - as written except I didn't fasten off (you reattach in this same space to do the neck edging).
   
7. Button band - as written except 48st with a new skein attached at the side of the last row of the left front panel. Again, I didn't fasten off (you reattach in this same space to do the neck edging).
   
8. Neck edging - Row 1 - using yarn left hanging on the buttonhole band, sc evenly around the neck shaping, placing scdec as needed to smooth out the steps, sc across the back and around, placing a matching number of sc and scdec on opposite side neck shaping. Row 2 - I did a second row of sc - sc evenly around the neck opening, again placing scdec as needed to smooth out the steps. Row 3 - picot edging around as written.
9. Bottom edging - as written except using yarn left hanging on the button band.

Active WIPs...

So, the currently active WIPs include:
1. Vintage Motif cardigan - a CAL at both Yahoo crochet-a-long and Crochetville! Progress seemed to have slowed since my last report (too much project jumping lately), but there are a few more squares in this photo. I've completed one more since this photo was taken so I'm up to 32 out of 75. I'm using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Mulled Wine and my Brittany 5.0mm H hook.

2. Bob's Fall into Fall Vest from Kimane Designs. I'm using Cascade 220 wool in a dark teal colorway and my Brittany 5.5mm I and 5.0mm H hooks. Since this earlier post, I've finished crocheting the second front panel, assembled the vest and completed the edging on one armhole. Due to its size, it's an "at home" project now. I'm a bit worried about the width of this vest. My husband has a favorite pullover knit vest, size 50-52. I had measured it and decided on doing the 2X based on this vest. After completing the 2X back, I decided to make the 3X front panels (only differ in width at the bottom - not in length or shoulder width) to gain a little extra breathing room. Well, as is the vest will be tight on dh. Why? Because knit sweaters stretch... a lot. He took off his pullover vest the other day and I re-measured it (stretched from being worn all day). I was a full 2 inches wider than it was un-stretched. That's 4 inches total in circumference. Houston, we have a problem. If it were just an inch, I could hope to gain a bit of room by making wider buttonhole bands (and I still may do this). I could dissemble the side seams and try to create some sort of gusset. Or, I could hope that the 15lbs he has lost since December is a sign of things to come and that he will lose a few inches in girth before next fall.

3. Sweet Pea Shawl - a CAL at Crochetville! that I joined on a whim. The pattern is by Amie Hirtes (NexStitch.com) and is available online or in "Stitch'n'Bitch: Happy Hooker". I had some yarn in my stash (Reynolds Saucy Swirl) that I thought would work, and I had an idea for a recipient (to be named later), so I grabbed my Brittany 5.5mm I hook and I was off. I added 3 shells (30 ch) to the beginning width for a total of 23 shells. I completed another row of shells of last night, finishing the 2nd 100g skeins. That makes 140 shells out of 276; I'm more than halfway there!

4. Spring Flowers Cardigan - by Tammy Hildebrand's in Crochet! May 2006. This is for Abby for a wedding this Spring. After swatching with my new Brittany 4.5mm hook and Gedifra 'Wellness' yarn, which I think is able to carry off the pattern stitch quite nicely, I decided on this pattern even though it is written for size 3 thread. My gauge together with the pattern as written for size 2 will give me the size 6 I need. Here's the body of the sweater (made in one piece) at about row 10 - one skein crocheted.

WIP progress... February - early March

Last I blogged a list of WIPs, they included these:
1. Peter's Jacob sweater - a CAL at Yahoo crochet-a-long using RH Medium Spruce for my dh, Bob. A gauge problem has been discovered somewhere between me & the pattern. Most likely, this will be frogged and I will try again with a reworked pattern.
2. 'Oxford Style' socks (Crocheted Socks!) - Originally meant for dh, now for me. Story & progress photo at the sock saga post. WIP turned UFO for now. Status = 40% complete.
3. Mardi Gras Carnival Socks - a crochetsocks CAL. This sock pattern and pattern stitch makes for a pretty tight sock...more info & progress photo at the sock saga. WIP turned UFO for now. Status = 15% complete.
4. Autumn Spice Cropped Cardigan - this diversion from my sock nightmare became a nightmare all of it's own. Eventually I won, even beating those blasted ends. Status = 100% complete.
5. Southbay CGOA sock - Originally seen at the sock saga post, these were completed in time for valentine's day for my dh. Status = 100% complete.

Then I sidetracked and completed these:
1. BICO, hat & booties - Status = 100% complete.
2. Comfortghan squares - Status = 100% complete.

FO: BICO for a baby

as opposed to my big girl! I made this BICO (and hat and booties) for my son's art teacher. She's having her first baby and well, I crochet things! As with Abby's BICO, I began this Baby It's Cold Outside on a whim as a stashbuster. I found 2 skeins of Peacock Baby Rainbow yarn in a blue/green/yellow colorway in my stash, grabbed a 6.0mm hook and started hooking (with 2 strands)! I edged the set with some bright yellow, Caron Perfect Match 'Lemon' left from Abby's ripple afghan.

For the BICO, I followed the pattern for a 12 month size in order to end up with a 6 mo size with my hook and yarn. The only exceptions to this is that I made the neck hole a tad smaller and I made a change so that the front panels would match better. If you've read the BICO CAL thread at Crochetville, then you might remember that as people made BICOs with a "non-Homespun" yarn, they noticed the rows of hdc didn't match up perfectly in front. When you join the yarn to make the left sleeve and front panel the instructions have you join at the sleeve end and crochet a RS row on top of the previous RS row. Instead, I joined at the neck edge, crocheted a WS row and continued for 3 rows to the neck opening. On the fourth row, when I get to the neck edge, I can't ch8 to add 6 hdc on the next row as that would make the neck hole too big. I needed to add these 6 hdc on to this 4th row, so I did. When I reached the neck edge on the 4th row I added 6 hdc using the chainless hdc foundation row. Then I crocheted row 5 into these added hdc and the rest of row 4, and continued for 2 more rows to complete my sleeve. Now, as I ended at the sleeve edge, I had to slip stitch in the first 19 stitchs and then begin the front panel (the lines of which now perfectly match the right panel!)

For the hat, I wanted to make it using hdc to match the BICO, but all the baby hat patterns I could find were sc. So, I winged it! I based it on the LB velvetspun hat pattern (without the top knot) and I used my daughters 22 inch "big baby" doll to size the hat. I started with 8hdc in a ring - increased so the stitch counts in rows 2-6 were 16, 24, 24, 32, and 40. I worked even rows until long enough to cover the dolls ears! Then I did two rows of yellow to match the BICO edging.

The booties were a variation on Bev's Very Easy Booties. I was using double stranded baby yarn, instead of worsted weight so I basically made them to match her measurements, not her row counts. I replaced the last row with yellow, for an edging.

FO:Autumn Spice, ends woven in!!

I thought I'd post a picture of my version of Autumn Spice, modeled, with all the ends woven in, finally! Details of the trials & tribulations of crocheting this sweater can be found in this earlier blog post. Here are the final details:
Hook: 6.5mm

Yarn: Cascade 'Lana de Oro' Tweed - worsted weight - 45% Superfine Alpaca, 45% Peruvian Highland wool and 10% Donegal (tweed) - 770yd maroon, 110 yd charcoal.

Pattern changes:

• I crocheted the back panel of a medium, almost as written. I began with 9 shells across, for 25 rows (12 shells high). I dropped a shell on each side for the armhole inset. I wanted the back neck opening to wider, but not as deep, so I continued with 7 shells across for 14 rows (7 shells high) and then skipping the center 3 shells, did 2 more rows (1 shell high) on the outer 2 shells for each shoulder.
• I crocheted the front panels of the small, adding in a sleeve inset. I began with a panel 4 shells across, for 25 rows (12 shells high). For the arm hole inset, I dropped 1 shell at the side edge and continued with 3 shells for only 7 more rows (4 shells high) as I wanted a lower neck at the front. Then I dropped a shell at the neck edge and continued for 9 more rows (4 shells high).
• The sleeves were completely re-written as I made tapered sleeves to get a little more length out of my limited (discontinued) yarn yardage. I started with 5 shells across, for 12 rows (6 shells high). On row 13 I added another dc, ch2 on either side of the center shell. On row 14, I replaced the center shell with two partial shells (dc, ch2, 2dc, ch2, dc). Row 15 was worked as if there were 6 full shells below and row 16 has 6 full shells. I crocheted another 21 rows (10 shells) of 6 shells wide (when I ran out of yarn!!).
• I crocheted the edging using the contrasting yarn. I made 4 rounds of sc on the whole piece, including sleeve cuffs.

Men & Crochet

There's a new CGOA chapter forming in Oakland, CA. The Men Who Crochet Chapter of the Crochet Guild of America will focus on men's involvement in the needle arts, but the membership will be open to both genders. It's being started by Peter Franzi, a great designer I'm privileged to know (you know, "know" in the online sense). Of course I live on the other coast, but if you know of anyone in the Oakland area who might be interested, send them to Peter!

On a more local men & crochet front, dh has his socks, and he loves them (but you wouldn't know that because he hasn't commented on my blog about that! Just kidding dear!!). But I also wanted him to have a sweater and a vest.

The sweater I chose was Jacob's sweater designed by the above-mentioned Peter Franzi. A bunch of us were so thrilled to finally find a great pattern for our guys that we decided to do a CAL at Yahoo crochet-a-long the day Peter first published his worsted weight design online. Several people were interested in a lighter version made with sportweight and Peter accommodated their wishes and began to redesign the sweater sportweight (simply following the ww pattern using sw yarn would be a bit too lacey for most guys). Peter also tried to deal with the requests of annoying people like me who were interested in a V-neck version - with a wide center cable pattern? what was I thinking? Peter's was absolutely right - no V-neck on this sweater. I knew my guy would wear a heavy cabled sweater (and forego the jacket) so I began the ww version using RH Medium Spruce. I made ribbings and started the front panel of the sweater. I'm usually fanatical about swatches and doing the math to figure out if the gauge is right and if the stated gauge will result in the specified size. Of course I didn't this time and I was halfway through the front panel before I realized that it was 10 inches wider than it needed to be. Yes 10 inches! So I stopped and contacted Peter. The bad news is I will be frogging the front panel of the sweater. The good news is Peter's sportweight version has been accepted for publication and Peter is now re-working the kinks out of the ww version. I promise to double check my math and stitch gauge this time before I start crocheting cables like a madwoman!

Meanwhile, I started a vest for my dh and I'm hoping it won't be more than 2 weeks late for his b-day (last Saturday). I'm using the same design I used for my son's vest - the Fall into Fall Vest from Kimane designs. For my husband I'm using Cascade 220 wool in a dark teal colorway. I purchased this yarn for him at my LYS's 2006 Superbowl yarn sale. I've finished the back panel and part of the front panel. I need to go wind some more hanks into cakes so I can keep hooking. Bob picked out his own buttons last Friday. How'd he do?

Spring cardigan swatches

As I posted earlier I need to make a cardigan for Abby for a wedding in April in NC. The yarn I want to use is Gedifra 'Wellness', a worsted weight cotton/acrylic blend (1210 yds). I mentioned these possiblities before, but I think I've ruled them all out for this project (as much as I love several).

Kim's Girl's Jiffy Jacket - I love this pattern, but I decided I really want the stitch pattern to be a little open
Robyn's Belle's Flowers - I will make this, but not for the wedding. With this yarn, the motifs were twice the size as designed, making them way too big for a little girl's sweater.
Drop Design 90-16 - I decided this is too open a stitch pattern - not enough warmth.
Crocheted Garden's Sweet Miss - beautiful, but this yarn wouldn't do the pattern justice.
Back to School - too boring - not open enough stitch pattern .

So did I mention, I really want the stitch pattern to be a little open.

I figured I might have to design the sweater around the pattern stitch, so I went a little swatch crazy last night and today. I tried the Coats & Clark Ruffled Cardigan after I saw this young teen, no-ruffle version at crochetville. It has possibility, it looks fine with this yarn. It seems a little bland, but I could edge it in a pale pink to match the dress, or run a pink ribbon through the edging.

Then I started searching magazines.... I pulled the second swatch stitch pattern out of the Openwork Coat from Family Circle Easy Crochet Spring 2007, a rewrite of a vintage pattern. I like the stitch pattern, and it's fine with this yarn, but I think it's too big a shell for a little girl's sweater, particularly if I decide to crop the cardi.

The last two swatches I have are from patterns written for finer yarns again, but since they are also written for toddlers, I was hoping that I could use my yarn with appropriate hook and end up with a sweater for Abby following a 18-24m pattern.

In Melissa Leapman's "Seasons of Love, Sweaters for the Family", I found Baby's Dainty Cardigan. I like the look in the photo from the book, but I think the yarn might be too thick for the pattern stitch. The shells are not as large as the openwork coat shells, but I'm not loving this swatch.

Finally, I found Tammy Hildebrand's Spring Flowers Cardigan from Crochet! May 2006. I love the look of the cardigan in the magazine photo, and I think the yarn is able to carry off the pattern stitch quite nicely. I don't think I'd add the flowers to the sweater, but maybe some pink flower buttons to match the pink in the dress. I think this is my favorite swatch.

So what do you all think??

Girl's spring cardigan search...

I need to make a cardigan for Abby for a wedding in April in NC. The wedding is in the late afternoon/evening so she will need some coverage for this dress. She'll be a week away from 5 then and she's tall. So we're talking size 6. I'm hoping to find a pattern so I can whip this off without it turning into another version of my most recent quick sweater fiasco!

In the ideal world, the cardigan would be a little lacy, or textured or something other than just hdc or dc. Or, does the dress demand something more simple from the sweater? In any case, I would like to use this yarn, a wonderfully soft cotton blend in white (center left in photo). It's Gedifra 'Wellness' - 60% cotton, 40% acrylic, 121yd/50g, 4.5st/inch, $1.50/skein. I have 10 skeins (1210 yds). I've searched online and have a few possibilities but, almost all require a bit more tweaking than I'd like or just don't quite match what I'm thinking. So, my online pals, I'm hoping for some more ideas. I've searched the books I own to no avail, but I haven't yet gone through the past 2-3 years of Crochet!, Interweave Crochet, FC Easy Crochet, BH&G Simply Creative Crochet, and Crochet Today magazines - all of which I own. So if anyone has any ideas please shout them out!

Possibilities so far:

1. Kim's Girl's Jiffy Jacket (I love this pattern, I made the adult version for me) - possibly a little too heavy, not lacy enough?
2. Robyn's Belle's Flowers (sizes 18m - 8/10) - I just bought this one. It was on the top of my list, but I have two concerns - is it too busy on top of the dress, and it's written for Microspun yarn.
3. Drop Design 90-16 - I love it - but a little too open mesh for the spring evening wedding?
4. Crocheted Garden's Sweet Miss - beautiful, but again calls for Lustersheen or finer yarn.
5. Back to School - sizes 2-8, right yarn, but all dc... too boring, or is this what I need?

Any other ideas??

WIP: Vintage Motif Cardigan

You know how see an old pattern and the picture is kind of blah so the pattern just doesn't wow you? Well that's what I thought about this vintage motif cardigan until some ladies at the 'Ville showed off their sweaters. Here's Roli in her Simply Soft version and in her Tweedy woolblend version with modified cuffs. Here's Artemis in her Wool-Ease version modified to get full length sleeves. Pretty cool, huh? They look so different!

Well their handiwork has inspired a double CAL - one at Yahoo crochet-a-long and one at Crochetville. The sweater is made with 4 inch motifs so several of us are modifying the size or adding motifs to adjust sizing. In addition, some ladies will be using different square patterns. I can't wait to see what they all create.

Here's my single square, done according to pattern at 4 inches, using my Brittany 5.0mm H hook and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Mulled Wine. In the end, after a math session, I decided I'd add an extra round for a little ease, and am making 4.25" squares in 8 rounds. Below you can see my first 4 squares, and then 16 squares pinned to a board.

FO: Floral Fantasy Pullover

The Floral Fantasy Pullover is a CAL at Crochetville. I definitely tweaked this pattern a bit by the time I had finished it. I changed the yarn, the hook size, the method of joining motifs, and the edging stitch. I ended up dropping the flared sleeves (no motif B) and skipping the collar entirely.
Yarn & Hook: I used 2 strands of Sirdar Salsa DK - a merino wool/acrylic blend, in place of the super bulky mohair/acrylic blend, with a 7.00mm hook. The sweater is made with motifs to be joined at the end. The super bulky recommended yarn makes a 7.5" Motif A with a J hook. Using a K hook (which actually measures 7.0mm) I was able to get the square to just over 7.25". I decided to go with that and use the shoulder and side gussets of the large size (instead of medium).
Joining: As someone at the 'ville suggested, I used a "join-as-you-go" method for assembling these motifs - anything to decrease the number of ends is a good thing!
Edging: With my 2 strands of yarn the 5 dc scallop edging was just too heavy and forced the sleeves (even without the larger motif B) to flare too much for my liking. Instead I simply put 3 sc in each loop to add a little weight to the sleeve ends and sweater bottom edge.
Sleeves: I used 2 motif A instead of the larger motif B at the end of each sleeve. I also modified the underarm gusset so that I began it at the middle of the 2nd motif, crocheted toward the underarm (joining to the side gusset), turned and then crocheted a 2nd sleeve gusset row from the underarm toward the cuff. On the 2nd side of the sleeve, I used this 2nd sleeve gusset row to seam the sleeve.
Collar: Try as I may I just couldn't get 4 motifs (particularly my slightly smaller motifs) to form a collar and lay nicely as the picture shows. I decided to just leave off the collar and added a few rows of arch stitch to tighten up the neck opening. I realize now that I didn't put the edging on the collar. I think it would be too heavy.
In the end this sweater fits a bit too tightly on me for my liking. In 2006 I regained about 15 of the 50 lbs I lost in 2005. I'll model it after I lose that 15!

BICO - size 6 sweater jacket

Baby It's Cold Outside is another Crochetville CAL that I began on a whim as a stashbuster...that and Abby needed a fall jacket! I had some Antique Homespun and a skein of beautiful dark silver gray Simply Soft for trim. I used a K hook that is closer to 7.0mm than 6.5mm, roughly 2.75 skeins of Homespun and a bit of Caron Simply Soft (single strand with K hook) for the edging.

The pattern is for 6-12 months, it was fairly easy to modify, but it took a little bit of attention when crocheting as I was modifying it on the fly. I made this for my 4.5 yo dd, who wears mostly size 5 now, but I wanted this to be a sweater jacket. I looked a a bunch of loose fitting sweater patterns and made what I thought would be a roomy size 6. I made the neck too big and modified it after the fact (homespun is forgiving). The pattern I have written corrects the neck size.

My finished garment has the following dimensions (including 0.5" edging on length measurements):
Length: 17.5" (top of shoulder to bottom edge)
Sleeve length: 12.5" (from sweater body to wrist)
Sleeve circumference: 10" (flattened sleeve is 5" wide)
Body length: 12.5" (before sleeves began)
Width: 16" (so chest = 32", with bulk yarn though)
Neck opening: 5" (should be about 1/3 of width)

My gauge with Homespun matched the pattern as written.

Pattern modifications:
Ch 41
Row 1: as written - 40 hdc (chain for desired width, here 16")
Rows 2-21: as written for rows 2-9 - 40 hdc
Row 22: as written for row 10 - 40 hdc (here 23 rows gives the desired body length of 12" - garment length minus sleeve width)
Row 23: Adding sleeves (use chain number to achieve desired sleeve length, here 12") - ch 30 , follow row 11 as written (ignoring chain numbers), ch 31 (one more chain than other side)
Row 24: as written for row 12 - 100 hdc
Rows 25-37: as written for rows 13-19, until garment measured 17" - 40hdc (here this gives you the total garment length and the sleeve width)
Row 38 (WS): Hdc for 43st, Sl st in 14st, hdc for 43 st (you should hdc for the sleeve length plus 1/3 of your back width, sl st for 1/3 back width, then hdc for the sleeve length plus 1/3 of your back width)
Rows 39-42: similar to rows 21-22; hdc across 43 hdc. (this is making the sleeve + shoulder area - the number of rows should give you the desired length of neck opening - here rows 38-43 give me about 2.5in)
Row 43: similar to row 23 - adding chain for right front panel. Hdc across, ch 16 (chain number minus 2 should be the number of stitches you sl st in for the neck)
Row 44: as written for row 24 - 57 hdc.
Rows 45-51: as written for rows 25-27 - 57 hdc. (ends right sleeve)
Rows 52: as written for row 28 - 27 hdc.
Rows 53-74: as written for rows 29-38 - 27 hdc. (fasten off when "front" side = 17")

Pick up for left sleeve (and shoulder) - with homespun, the RS-WS pattern is not apparent, so I followed the pattern instructions - if I were to use ww yarn, I would follow the RS-WS pattern and use a chainless foundation when adding the sleeve

Row 1: as written for row 1 - 43 hdc.
Row 2-4: as written for row 2 - 43 hdc.
Row 5 : as written for row 3, except ch 9. (shoulder completed, ch to add left front panel)
Row 6: as written for row 4 - 50 hdc.
Rows 7-13: as written for rows 5-7 - 50 hdc. (left sleeve finished)
Row14: as written for row 8 except hdc in first 20 st (half the width of your back)
Rows 15-36: as written for rows 9-18 - 20 hdc (fasten off when "front" side = 17").