Expensive Yarn Crisis

November is apparently the month for me to join things – Wordless Wednesdays and NaBloPoMo, and the real fun for me is wandering around to other people’s blogs on the blogrolls. Doing this makes me feel a bit like I’m peeping into people’s windows. You get this tiny snapshot of life, sometimes without much context! But it’s fun to do.

I had a surprise day off Wednesday due to the Giants winning the World Series (I think that was it). The parade was attended by what seemed like half of San Francisco, and it came down the street I work on, and the end was about two blocks from my office. Due to public safety concerns (there was apparently rioting the night they won) they just shut the college down for the day. Yay!

I ran out of yarn that day to work on my red sweater, and the blanket has been designated a train-only activity. To distract myself from all the chores I needed to do, I found myself stash diving. I came across two skeins of hand-spun, hand-dyed alpaca yarn I bought from an alpaca farm last April in Colorado. Yeah. I was on vacation. I typically am not that spendy with yarn, and of course this has led to a crisis. But first, the yarn.

Beautiful, eh? It’s DK weight 2-ply (that would be thin) 100% alpaca, and I have 2 skeins of about 250 yards each. Deciding what to make with this has been total ridiculous panic. At first I decided I would make a very simple back-post-stitch wrap to show off the colors. Great! But now that I’m 20 rows in, I’ve realized I won’t have enough to finish. So now I’m back to panicking about what pattern to use. Since it was not cheap yarn, I don’t want to make something horrible with it or waste any of it. I’d prefer to make something to wear with it because it’s so pretty. But I don’t have much yarn to work with.

These are the three options I decided on (two different patterns above, two of the same pattern below). Lace because it will make the yarn I have stretch into a larger project. Shawls or a cowl because they’re small projects. The cowl, of course, would have a crocheted collar instead of knit and would have lace edge like this.What do you think? What would work best? These all require fine yarn and detail, and I think the yarn I have would work best with a lacy but simple pattern (so the pattern doesn’t overwhelm the color). It’s not self-striping yarn like the left-hand shawl, just variegated.

Cowl: I think that I like the cowl/capelet idea best, but the problem is that I’m using an animal fiber, which means that even though I’m not allergic to it exactly (no lanolin, so no hives), it’s still not exactly comfortable against my skin. My hands feel rather exfoliated while I crochet with it. I think maybe I will make something just like this, but in a cotton blend.

Shawl: I’m not sure, but I’m tending toward the shawl below, Simple Scallops. It’s lacy, it can be a wrap or a scarf-type deal, and because you start in the middle back and work outward in a triangle-ish shape, you can just work until you’re out of yarn, which appeals to me since I wouldn’t end up with a wasted odd 3 yard length at the end. But then, I like the “cascading” motif shawl up on the left, and that I could just make as long as I wanted.

What do you think? Opinions please!

P.S. I do not, as a rule, buy expensive yarn because I’m a thrifty, no frills person, and have spent most of my adult life as a poor college student or nonprofit worker. All I do is end up panicking over what to make, and then I never make anything with it, and then I get mad at myself, and then I make something, and I spend the entire time I’m making it in fear that I’m going to be unhappy with it, which takes all the joy out of crocheting because I prefer the process, not the finished result. A somewhat dumb, but vicious cycle.

Sweaters in the Queue

Continuing with the theme idea, Tuesdays I’ve entitled In the Queue.  These are all projects I’ve wanted to do, but have never gotten around to doing, or perhaps at the time didn’t have the skills to complete. I have many, many, many of these. Some of them are other people’s designs, some of them are my designs but they all rest sort of tidily somewhere, awaiting my attention.  Today I have two sweaters for you that I’ve always wanted to crochet. Since I just began crocheting wearable items, these have waited until I could figure out the whole fitting thing a little bit better.

Floral Fantasy Pullover

The first one is the Floral Fantasy sweater I saw quite a while ago on the Lion Brand website when I was first looking at more complicated patterns. I really love the lace floral design, and I’m fond of the color. It looks lovely for winter.

This example was crocheted in a yarn (now discontinued) called Romance. I wouldn’t have been able to use it anyway, because it’s a bulky mohair blend. I don’t care much about the fuzziness of the sweater, so I just needed to find a suitable bulky, same-color replacement.

I found replacement yarn in San Francisco in August (remember me in that yarn shop? That’s what I got there) that’s just this color. I love periwinkle. I think it will be a beautiful substitution. It’s hand-painted yarn, so the color is a bit varied, and it has great drape. I’d show it to you, but in this packed-up mess?  Who knows where it might be.

Boho Blocks Cardigan

The other sweater is the Boho Blocks Cardigan, originally published in Interweave Crochet, Fall 2006.  I guess I like things I’d describe as “updated hippie” like this. I’m mostly opposed to the term Boho (can we not spell out bohemian? Must we always reference SoHo?). I mean, it is made of conjoined grannysquares, right? But in a nice, non acrylic-fuzzy-blanket way.

I like the heavy-looking drape on this sweater. I think I’d stick to two colors, though. The difference between chunky afghan squares and nice drapey squares is the yarn choice.  The pattern uses a laceweight yarn of blended silk, which makes all the diference.

The yarn is  Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace yarn in mother lode, Douglas fir and camouflage. Since it’s a  wool yarn I won’t be able to use it, but I think another laceweight silk blend would work fine. Maybe a nice alpaca/silk like “Silky Alpaca Lace” from Classic Elite? I’ve heard alpaca is good for allergy-stricken folks. Maybe bamboo/silk? I don’t know yet. It’s not like I’m starting this project next week.

So those are the two projects that have been in my queue the longest. I do intend to make them one day. When there’s time. Which I have to find more of.

Owl, Redux

Yo. Owl.

This post will be shorter than Owls, Part 1, but in fact it took much longer to write because it contains the instructions I wrote for making the owl. This is the final of three versions. You saw version 2 in the previous post with a crocheted beak.

There are PDF instructions for crocheting the front and back, the eye patch and the wings, and putting it all together. The instructions are detailed (10 pages). I guess I’d rather over explain than confuse someone. Hopefully this isn’t confusing.

I believe this is just in time for that most nocturnal of celebrations, Hallowe’en, although this version is crocheted in Rice Owl colors. I am very fond of blue and brown.

I had fun writing the pattern for this cute little guy! If you try it, please let me know if you like it. Thanks!

Instructions for Crocheted Owl (2.1 MB PDF file)