I picked up my knitting again and progressed a little farther. I keep telling myself that this is the worst bit, row-length-wise. I’m making a top-down cartigan with raglan sleeves, and across the shoulders, before the arms are separated from the body, the row has around 300 stitches and is increasing. I’m close to separating the sleeves and then I hope the work will at least perceive to go faster. I posted a couple shorts on YouTube of my real-time perl and knit. It is slow going.
So tatting is a craft I have not previously attempted. I have not historically been a lace person, so tatting, which is a type of knotted lace, was not a high priority. Finding myself in Texas, where thick woolens are not required, I’ve come to appreciate the functionality of lace. Mainly, I can craft something that is wearable in the Texas heat. To keep it real, I took a picture of my failed first attempts.
Not to cast a pall on all the fantastic lace work out there, but they all started with misshapen tangles of thread too. It is hard to learn new things, and the first products are not usually spectacular. It takes time and practice to develop the muscle memory and control for different hand crafts. Enjoying this learning process helps me not abandon the effort in frustration. Although it is not a bad idea to take frequent breaks, because it can be exasperating teaching our hands new skills. I did eventually produce a small chain of loops.
I used the word “not” eight times in this post, see what I did there?
I took my two mosaic crochet experiments and joined them together to make a pillow, because why not? I used a single crochet stitch to join the sides, then stuffed it with poly fill.
I put a stitch in the center of the pillow to hold the stuffing in place and give it an even more retro look. It worked well because both sides have a defined center of the pattern.
Thor the tabby cat is fascinated with all things yarn. We are working on what is appropriate and what is not. The ribbon on the stick is fair game, the ball of yarn leading to my hands is not. He jumped up on my chair to watch some yarn unroll, was being very polite, and fell asleep.
I’m experimenting with the overlay mosaic technique, but as a way to introduce texture. By using one color of yarn, and stitching in the round, I produced quite a nice basket weave type structure. I am also using a size G (4.0mm) hook with worsted weight acrylic yarn, which is smaller than recommended to make a stiffer fabric. This pattern uses two single crochets in the back loop then one double crochet in front loop of the previous row. The ruler is to assess the gauge.
Thor slept through the whole swatching process, and Izzy the calico never noticed he was within an inch of her.
After experimenting with mosaic crochet in rows, I decided to try a pattern in the “round”. These are built in a similar manner to granny squares, working from the inside out and producing a flat fabric. I followed a terrazzo pattern from a YouTube video.
I have to admit that although I really like this pattern, it makes my eyes vibrate. I finished off the square with a solid round of pink, then a wider band of purple to offset the trippy. The neat part of mosaic crochet this way is that you don’t have to cut the ends of the yarn for each round. I switched colors, but didn’t cut, so it worked up without dealing with multiple ends.
Critters and Craft 