Monthly Archives: February 2022

Progress!

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Woo! I’m tempted to declare that I’m almost done, but I think that might be a foolhardy thing to say. Even if I’m not “almost done”, I am at least a bit closer to being finished. I’ve completed the front and back pieces, which feels pretty significant.

And, I need help!

I’m supposed to seam up the shoulders and the sides, then pick up (or whatever you call it with crochet) stitches around the arm openings for the sleeves. Simple, right? Well, it’s been a minute since I did seaming on a crochet project.

I started with the shoulders, which seemed easier. I matched up the tops of the front and back and did single-crochets through both layers. The join was nice and neat-practically seamless (and difficult to photograph clearly).

No problem.

The issue is with the sides. Because it’s essentially a double-crochet fabric, there are big gaps all over the place. I’m afraid that if I sew/crochet into the holes, it’ll just accentuate them. But, if I sew through the stitches, I’m afraid it won’t be sturdy enough.

It’s a conundrum. And, probably something that could easily be solved by googling, but I don’t have the energy to do that right now. So, instead, I’m hoping that one of you guys have a brilliant idea.

How do you like to seam up crochet (or knit) projects?

A tale of two (one) sweater(s)

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I’m of two minds about this sweater. But what’s new?

First, I’m excited about how fast it’s going, which isn’t usually the case at this point in the process. Most of the time when I’m three-quarters of the way in, I’m very frustrated and not seeing much progress. I’m just not used to how fast crochet is. I had a 2-hour Zoom meeting last night, and managed to get through 4 repeats- almost 6 inches of sweater! (I know it doesn’t look like I’m going that fast compared to last week, but that’s mostly because I bought myself a paint-by-number kit that’s taking up most of my attention. I have no regrets.) And, I even like the way the fabric is turning out. I think it’s going to be cute- I love the bobbles (even if they’re a pain to make).

However, I’m real skeptical that this is going to be a cute sweater. It’s just so… rectangular. To be fair, it is a style that I’m not too familiar with (drop shoulder, cropped, oversized sweaters aren’t usually my bag), so maybe this is how it’s supposed to look. Maybe it’ll turn out amazing after I seam it up and put it on, and I’ll never want to take it off. But right now I don’t have a lot of faith in the finished sweater.

Either way, I guess I’ll just keep trucking along and trust the process. I like the finished picture in the pattern- fingers crossed that it turns out that cute!

When’s the last time you were skeptical of a pattern halfway through?

Like the wind!

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I’ve been cruising along with my crocheted sweater, and it’s been fun getting to stretch out of my yarn-crafting comfort zone.

I’ve noticed a few things:

  1. I do not like making bobbles, but I do like how they look. (In fact, I made an executive decision to halve the number of bobbles on each bobble-row. It’s a decision I stand behind.) To be fair, a crocheted bobble is much less of a pain than a knitted bobble. So at least there’s that.
  2. Crochet uses different muscles than knitting. I could knit for hours and hours with no discomfort, but my forearms start talking to me after only a little bit of crochet. I don’t think there’s anything wrong, just my body getting used to something new.
  3. Y’all, I forgot how fast crochet goes! Between kids not sleeping and, you know… general life stuff, I haven’t been getting my usual sit-down-and-do-hand-work-time, and still, I’m almost done with the front of this sweater. It’s amazing how fast it’s going!
  4. Crochet patterns are wild! Or maybe it’s just this one. I’m so used to super-precise knitting patterns where every stitch and increase are accounted for, while this pattern is more of a loose “recipe.” It’s kind of fun to try such a different pattern!

I’m really enjoying this project, and can’t wait to wear the finished project!

Have you tried anything new (or new-ish) lately?

1000

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You want to know what’s really wild?

This is my 1000th post.

I know! I don’t believe it either.

It’s been (almost) 9 years since I started the blog, and in that time I’ve:

  • Published 100 patterns (which I didn’t realize until I sat down to count them right now!) Some of them are… questionable, but some of them I’m really proud of. My most popular pattern (Socks by the Numbers) has been knit up more than 500 times according to Ravlery! (Unfortunately, my photography hasn’t improved much over the intervening years.)
  • Written 1000 posts. Sometimes I feel like I’m just letting my inner (knitting) monologue blurp out onto the screen, but sometimes I feel fairly insightful.
  • Knit close to 300 projects (assuming my Ravlery count is accurate… which I can’t imagine it is).

And, in my personal life in that time I’ve:

  • Bought and moved into our current house.
  • Changed “day jobs” 3 times.
  • Got a dog.
  • Made 2 kids and keep them warm with more woolens than they know what to do with.
  • Survived at home for approximately one million years with said dog and children.

It’s certainly been a wild ride. Thanks for taking it with me. Here’s to a thousand more!