06-05-2020

Bought this yarn as “souvenir yarn” during a once in a lifetime trip to Australia. I thought I’d make a sweater with these 3 coordinating skeins, but it’s not coming to fruition. Not the right yardage, one skein is variegated, no design that I like.

During the stay at home order for Covid-19 I decided to learn to crochet. I have 3 projects completed now, a simple scarf, a round motif shawlette, and a more complicated shawl that was supported by full video tutorials. Looking for my next project I found this design.

There are a few video tutorials for the beginning part of the shawl, but the one that is in English is not useful unfortunately. No complaints, it just didn’t help. So I’m in the challenge zone. Have to figure it out on my own. I did end up trying to use the videos in Russian, Polish, and Spanish. Between the 3 I made it through the hardest row, row 4.

Finished the first full repeat of the pattern, I’m pleased with the result and now it’s just repeating that same set of rows until I run out of yarn. It looks like a long way to go, but the rows will get long very quickly and I’m finding that crochet eats yarn faster than knitting.

I’m excited about it because I think it’s such a perfect combination for this special yarn. We were in Austraila just as the terrible bush fires were taking hold and now to be using it for a new hobby during a global pandemic just solidifies what this project means to me - holding each other up during crisis, moving forward despite changes, and making time for myself in spite of the insanity that my work life has become.

06-09-2020

Finished the second repeat. 40g of yarn left in the first skein. So 75g used for the first two repeats. That should have me changing to the second skein in the next repeat. Towards the end of that repeat. Have I mentioned that crochet eats yarn?

06-12-2020

Ran out of yarn in skein one on the first half of row 9 in the 3rd repeat. Joined skein two and continued through row 11 before having to put it away for the day. Need to get a few more rows done before I can call the transition and yarn pairing a success. It should work, but right now it looks like the variegated skein is much darker than it looked in the skein which makes for a more stark transition.

06-14-2020

Finished the 4th repeat, 56 rows complete. I think the transition is working, and it’s clear that I may not even get another full repeat in before I have to switch to the third and final skein. But I’m liking the size and the way this is working up. It’s repetitive within each row, but I’m using that to build my confidence with the craft and my speed. Each row takes a long time to finish!

I have discovered that I don’t hesitate to rip back when I find a mistake - whereas in knitting I will painstakingly tink back stitch by stitch to the error, with crochet I just pull it out without fear of dropped stitches. That’s a nice bonus. This morning as I picked up the project I got towards the end of a very long row and found a mistake in the previous row, which would mean ripping out two full rows essentially. I went ahead and fudged it, but within 10 minutes I was so bothered by it that I ripped it back. With my knitting that would have caused so much frustration that the project would have gone in time out. Not here - just rip and resume, no heartburn. Cool.

06-21-2020

Through row 9 of the 5th repeat and almost to the end of skein 2. A few missteps along the way, but by now I’m feeling pretty confident with the project. The rows are really long and I’m finding that most times I can only get about halfway through one before I have to deal with something in the house. Thankfully it’s really easy to pick up from anywhere in the row.

06-28-2020

Off the hook. Ran out of yarn 7 stitches short of the end of row 6 of the 7th repeat. Used the tails from the join to give enough length to finish up. Left me two rows shy of the ideal stop as per the designer - which would have been row 8. But I think it works. Need to block it and get it laid out for finished shots.

08-31-2021

First place in the Hunterdon County Fair 2021