Sunday, October 14, 2012

Two Lessons about Your Own Patterns

Lesson One: Test That Pattern

You know what? You really should test-knit or test-crochet your pattern BEFORE putting it on the dang Internet. Luckily as far as I can tell, no one made the snood pattern I wrote a couple of weeks ago, so no harm was done...but I wrote the instructions by "reading" the first snood I made, and I mis-read a round. Following the original instructions would get you a snood, but the increases would not lie flat. I fixed it, so what is currently on the Snood-Tastic page is right. I know this, because today I fixed the pattern and followed it, and the finished item came out just fine, thanks.

Back of Gray Snood
Side view of gray snood
I made this one out of Patons Grace 100% mercerized cotton thread, which has the same gauge as the yarn on the brown bamboo snood. It also took just over one skein of yarn. I'd make the snoods smaller, but the drape would not be as nice.

I found really nice thin headbands at the grocery store, and used one of them for the elastic. It worked just great. This snood is VERY comfortable (I am still wearing it) and will be perfect for doing outdoor activities on windy days. And it goes just fine with my graying hair.

Lesson Two: Look at Your Own Pattern

I made another snood earlier this week, out of Classic Elite Cotton Bam Boo left over from another project. I was very confident, and just started crocheting away assuming I had memorized the pattern. By about round 4 I knew something was off. it was very wavy, as if it were ruffled. That is because I had been increasing too quickly and did way too many rows of doubling the number of spaces. I kept going anyway, hoping the snood would even out. Sure enough, I ran out of yarn on the last row, again. The finished product, though, was not quite right.

Not my best picture
In addition to making my ear look really weird, you can see how lumpy it ended up being. And it is not long enough, so the bottom doesn't drape nicely. Well, if I ever need a hair net...or I may frog it and re-use that nice, white hairband that's in there. This is pretty ugly.

I really need to read the instructions, even for my own things. Duh.

Good thing I have the instructions all fixed up, since I ordered some nice bamboo-blend yarn to make another one for one of the people who asked for one. I need to figure out who else wanted one...and maybe someone else will make one! But, no, kids, I am not making them and putting them on Etsy. Not cost effective.

I also have an exciting commission for some hand warmers for a neighbor. Maybe after that I can get back to my nice, gray cardigan. With my spouse gone to his dad's for much of next week, I should be able to get a lot done this week.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Cashmere Love

This weekend I finished the red cashmere scarf I had been working on. As I mentioned before, it's a Jade Sapphire pattern that has 7 different patterns to knit with their lovely worsted weight cashmere. I chose one with a pattern of multiple wraps.
Same Picture as Last Entry

I reposted this so you can see the pattern. Here's what it looks like with me wearing it:

Finished scarf with fringe on it.
I decided to add fringe. I am going to separate each strand into the plies the yarn comes in, since each of those three plies is two-ply, if that makes sense. I also used fabric glue to tack down the ends I wove in, since the yarn frays into the three plies so easily.

The project ended up 80" long, which is longer than the instructions said to make it but will allow me to loosely wrap it and drape it nicely. Now my only issue is that it is a blue red and my trench coat is more of a cherry red. I will pretend it's on purpose.
Clash between coat and scarf

Back to Snoods

I started a white snood yesterday, and did not read my own instructions. Because of that, it looks different, rather ruffly due to extra increases. So, I may keep this one for myself and make another one for my friend Ann in North Carolina. I wanted hers to be a light tan anyway, to match blonde hair. I just have to find the right yarn. The white I found in my own stash is nice but perhaps too white. I did find, at the grocery store, some of the thin hairbands I wanted to try to use for the elastic bit of the snoods. Of course, they came in a set with some weird thicker ones, but at least I have a couple I can use for the next snoods. I am enjoying the experimentation.

There is a new yarn store in the town where I live. I sure hope they do well. I will not be volunteering to help out, though. I couldn't even bring myself to do the yarn crawl this year. I sure got burned last time, sigh. But, the two people I taught to knit at work are really enjoying their projects, and I have local folks to help. That's just enough for me. It will be nice to visit a shop, but I think I will wait a while before formally teaching or anything. I don't need to be made fun of or talked about behind my back anymore. Things are good now! They will stay that way!

Back to making my fringe. Enjoy your own knitting, crocheting, and whatever.