February 9, 2018
Dear Everyone:
Sometime last year I decided to try
crocheting a sweater
that I had designed, using a different stitch.
I had already made this sweater about three times, making a few
changes in each rendition.
First, the neckline was too low.
Next, the neckline was better, but it needed a collar.
Then the collar wouldn’t lie flat the way that it should.
Rather like
Goldilocks: “This bed is
too hard! This bed is too
soft! This bed is needs 500-count
sheets!” And so on.
This time I decided to try using a half-double crochet stitch instead of
a single-crochet stitch for the yoke.
Anyone who knows how to crochet would immediately realize that
the new sweater was going to need a lot more yarn than previous
iterations. And the rows
would be wider, so I would need fewer of them.
Which affects how many stitches to decrease and where.
And so on.
I would need more yarn, but had no idea how much more.
So I bought a whole lot of yarn.
This is much easier than it used to be.
In the “olden times” (about ten years, or more, ago), you wanted
to get as much yarn as you would need all from the same “dye
lot”. This means all the
yarn needed to be dyed together, so there would be no variation in the
color from one ball of yarn to the next.
The next dye lot might be just a little bit darker, or lighter,
than the last one.
But now all the dye lots are supervised by computers capable of
detecting even the slightest change in color.
So all I had to do was pick a color and buy as much yarn as I
hoped would be enough in the same brand and weight.
The result was a lovely sweater in
royal blue.
And with it, all the measurements, rows, stitches-per-row, etc.,
carefully recorded in “Sweater_Raglan_Version_7” for future reference.
And a whole lot of
worsted weight royal
blue yarn left over.
At first, I thought I might try making a child-size version of the
sweater, for one of many grandnieces.
Not that any of them would necessarily
want a royal blue sweater
hand-crafted by Great-Aunt Pete.
But you know what they say:
“Have yarn. Must
crochet.”
However. In the meantime, I
discovered that I could crochet clever little stuffed animal toys and
donate them to the Senior Center, which sells them for funds to continue
their Good Work.
So, I used the royal blue yarn to make another dragon, this one with
lavender accents, and red horns.
And I must say, he is a very handsome dragon, indeed.
I’ve nicknamed him “RB” (short for royal blue).
I also have a new book of crocheted animals that “Jeannie” gave me for
Christmas.
I tried a pattern for a bunny rabbit, using some
turquoise
yarn that I found in one of the Yarn Bins.
I showed it to “Jeannie” last weekend; and, while it is a very
nice little rabbit, we both agreed that the eyes weren’t quite right.
Plus “Jeannie” didn’t like the nose.
And I discovered later that the bunny’s little white round tail
was a tad bit off-center.
So, this morning, I ripped out the bunny’s eyes, snipped off his tail,
and picked out his nose.
This afternoon, I redid the eyes, using a smaller stitch than before, to
much better effect. A
smaller nose, set lower in the face, was also an improvement.
After that, it was only a matter of making sure the tail was
properly centered before stitching it back into place.
Now RB and Mr. Bunny are ready to visit our Needle Arts group tomorrow
at the library. Assuming
they pass muster, I’ll take them to the Senior Center on Tuesday for
donation. It will be too
late for this month’s Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser.
But I have discovered that very few of my donations make it to
the Fundraiser, or the display case in the Center’s front lobby.
They tend to be snapped up by the ladies in the Tuesday Craft Workshop
almost immediately. Which,
of course, means that I can continue satisfying my Crochet Cravings with
whatever projects I like.
What could be better than that?
Love, as always,
Pete
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