I’ve decided to plunge into the world of crocheting garments. When you need a crocheted item to be a predictable size, you must swatch, and when I spotted the Petal Pullover in the latest issue of Interweave Crochet, the first thing I did was make a swatch.
Perhaps, despite the terrible quality of this picture, you can see the problem I ran into:
Hint: the bottom is supposed to be straight.
Experienced crocheters would look at this swatch and say: the base chain is too tight! Go up a hook size and try to stay loose.
Alas, that isn’t the problem at all. How do I know this? Because I didn’t use a base chain, I used chainless foundation single crochet stitches.
Given my experience with other patterns that I have failed at, I have come to the conclusion that my problem is, in fact, that my single crochet stitches are too small when compared to my other stitches.
At least I’m innovative with my gauge problems!
Anyhow, I really wanted to start working on this sweater, though, so I’ve decided to go down in yarn thickness (the swatch was Bernat Satin, the yarn I settled on is Bernat Satin Sport). I used a 5mm hook for the round of sc foundation stitches, and then a 4.25mm hook for the rest.
(The bottom looks curved in this picture, but that’s only because it’s a tube and I didn’t want the front and back to overlap in the picture)
I’m going to need to figure out a way around this single crochet problem, though. There are lots of patterns out there that have sc mixed in with other stitches in a single row, and I can’t keep switching hooks.
In other news… I finished the boring, just-a-bunch-of-dc-stitches baby blanket I was working on as a counterpoint to the flower blanket:
(That’s just a plain old hexagon pattern worked until I ran out of yarn; 2 balls of Mary Maxim Sugar Baby Stripes in Tutti Fruitti with a 3.75mm hook)
And I’ve made two more Spiral Hex blankets:
(Shot artfully in a fruitless attempt to make them look like some other pattern)
As for what I’m working on now, well, that pink sweater is at the “need-to-consult-the-pattern-often” stage now, and so is now on the “work-on-it-at-home” WIP pile. My current “avoid-smacking-people-on-the-subway” project is…
… well, never mind what it is…
March 10th, 2012 
mio 
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11 Blankets in 2011
