roguecrafter

First off, let me say that I’m not going to go into the how’s and why’s of the actual pattern of Wingspan (as it’s now gone paid for). However, I am going to discuss my project notes (which could be freely posted on Ravelry) in case anyone else wants to knit a Wingspan project for someone who gets cold really easily — like me — and wants more than just their upper shoulders covered.

I followed the directions for casting on # of stitches &tc for the fingering weight project; however I used handspun thick-and-thin yarn (made and hand-dyed by me) that was ~mostly~ worsted weight. I also used US # 10.5 needles so that it would have some drape (and so it would go quickly, I admit). I also only did five triangles instead of eight. I’m not sure exactly how many yards of yarn I used, but it was probably around 80 yards per triangle plus a tad more for the border. However, I just used whatever was extra and grabbed it from my project bag to create a random striping effect. The gauge was approximately 3 sts/in (12 sts/4 in), but that is very approximate as I said because it was thick-and-thin yarn. In places it was 3.5 sts in, but that was rare.

I, er, still have to weave in the ends and block it, but I am really happy with how this turned out.

Wingspan shawl in shades of beige, pink, and purple. Measures approximately 60 inches wide by 18 inches long at the widest point. (roughly 152 cm wide by 46 cm for metric folks). Made from Blue-faced Leicester and Alpaca; ends still need weaving in.

When I was about 8 or 9 my mother tried to show me the mystical art of crochet. It was something she was very skilled in, and I was interested to learn how she’d made the tiny delicate lace blanket for my dolls house.

I managed chain stitch and a very tight row of single crochet before throwing it aside in consternation, because she couldn’t manage to explain to me in a way that sunk in that if I held the yarn really really tightly then I’d never be able to do another row.

I became convinced crochet was too hard, and the bit I’d done became a curly scarf for Kirsten Larson, my American Girl doll.

Fast forward to when I’d learned to knit in my mid-20s. I had taught myself, and everyone (non-crafter and crafter, even the nice people at the yarn store) seemed to think it was just logical that if I could knit I’d be able to figure out crochet.

So I tried again, after seeing lots of tantalizing photos of amigurumi online and thinking, “I want to crochet that.” I started with a dishcloth, and thought I’d try it as a sampler of basic stitches. And you know what? I figured it out. (Knowing about gauge/tightness in knitting really helped.)

But then I felt like I had to finish the dishcloth in order to do anything else…and I have a lot of hand-knit dishcloths. It wasn’t exciting, and oh by the way SHINY PROJECT distracted me. But suddenly I knew the basics enough that I didn’t want to stab someone with a crochet hook after a row of chain stitch.

Yesterday, I finished knitting a green baby hat. I’d been planning to put Shrek/Alien ears on it, but I’ve done that before with preemie hats and I was just kinda bored with the idea. (I think that was why this hat had been three rounds from done for about three months, taking up workspace.) So then I thought, it’s for a girl, why not a flower? And then I thought, why not a crocheted flower?

And so the first crocheted object I ever completed came to be:

sage

(pictured here above: yarn dyed by my nephews; a wound ball of green/yellow/blue done by the 7 year old and a hank of red done by the 4 year old.)

A few months ago my brother and his family came to visit, which included my two lovely nephews aged 4 and 7. As part of their trip, I began my insidious plan to help them appreciate the fiber arts. Step 1 was having them dye their own yarn. The 7 year old elected for food coloring, and the 4 year old was delighted to use Kool Aide to dye yarn.

Now comes part two of the Master Plan – somewhat delayed by other works in progress, a ton of spinning, life, health, pick an excuse. I am going to (attempt to) knit them the object of their choosing using the yarn that they knit.

They were *very* specific. The 7 year old wants a very special hat, and he even drew me a design. (Trust me, that is getting framed or something.) The 4 year old wants…a fire truck. We shall see what I can do with that. (There’s a crochet pattern for fire trucks on Ravelry, but I think it’s beyond my crochet skills. So…we’ll see how this goes! I think I will basically make a rectangle and embellish it with wheels, etc.)

I made a previous post about plying handspun yarn and machine-spun lace weight. Here is another thing you can do with handspun yarn and lace weight (or any weight): knit with one of the yarns “held double”:

Teaser work in progress photo of cream blue-faced leicester (bfl) handspun held double with teal, pink, and purple cotton lace weight yarn.

I have now woven all the ends in and finished blocking, but alas the light today is not good light for taking photographs. As I can’t show you the finished object in all its glorious splendor I don’t want to tell you, but can you guess? What do you think this is?

Driving back and forth to the beach, I finished knitting a glorious shawl made from my handspun yarn. (I should clarify, I was not knitting and driving.) It is a warm and snuggly triangular shawl with stripes of three different 2-ply yarns, which are blends of some of the same fibers.