Cat Mad Crochet

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Do you play video games? I used to. I enjoyed the strategy type best. Sometimes, in the middle of play, one of my choices would cause a shift in the game and my original quest would change. I suddenly had to rethink everything I had been planning and find a new way forward. This change could be a fun and exciting thing. I preferred those games, especially if the shift in quest really was decided by my choices in the game and not a pre-programmed part of the plot.

Happy reader, my life quest has shifted. I’ve been absent for two weeks pursuing my new quest, and I have never been happier in my work. The crochet that I thought was going to be my work is now firmly my hobby, and I am fine with that. A new main quest has been unlocked. I’m not ready to talk about the new quest yet, but I am excited to tell you when the time comes.

So where does that leave my crochet? Continuing. Perhaps more slowly, but still there. Crochet calms me. I love working with yarn and color, too, so I’m not going to stop crocheting, but I am going to shift my blog from essays and whatnot to just project updates and discussions of crochet I caught sight of while watching television and movies. For those of you who have joined and stayed with me this far, thank you! I appreciate your time and attention.

Now, to the crochet!

I finished Hannah’s linen wrap in time for the wedding. She wore it and looked beautiful and no one even commented on it. Sigh. Hannah has a new wrap though and she loves it, which is what matters and makes me happy.

To make this, I used an open, lacy stitch for the interior that looked like little stars. It reminded me of quilting stitches without the quilt. I ran a row of shells around the edge in the pink I used for the body and then broke the yarn. I came back in with the mushroom colored yarn and worked a row of doubles, singles and chains around the shells and topped that with a row of single crochets. 

Hannah suggested some love knots, so I worked two rows of those next. I adore love knots and they look very impressive, so I was happy both to add them and that I didn’t screw them up. Go me! I topped that section with a two row block of singles on top of a row of chains and singles. Then I worked a two row border consisting of a set-up row of chains topped with singles and, wait for it, beads! I had to go out to get the really tiny beads, but it was worth it. I love this wrap. It looks antique and perfect and better than something I have the skill to make, yet, somehow, it is not only my work but I freehanded it.

Now I’m back to the projects I was working on before I got it into my head to make a large, intricate wrap a month before the wedding Hannah planned to wear it at. I have four motif projects: 

The Circles:  They are going well. I think I made the right choice to limit the color range for a while. I really like the idea of little pops of color instead of a chaos of color, though, since it is a journal of sorts to mark getting through the next four years, chaos does seem appropriate. 

The Big Square Project: I’m still not sure whether the name refers to a big square made of many little squares or a big project of some sort that involves squares, thus no comma in the title yet. I raided my stash and added a lot of extra colors to the pile I had already amassed and ended up nearly doubling the amount of yarn I have for this project, so BIG may be the key word.

The Hexagons: I’ve been working on some hexagons. They’re all in fall colors and have a color change for the second row. I have no idea what they will be yet, so I’m leaving each one with a long tail so I can sew them together once I know how many there are and they tell me their name.

Hannah’s motif cape: Yep. I pulled out the Sophie Digard style motifs again, and I’ve been making some of those. The padded centers are going way better this time. I really considered shifting to a different, non-traditional but significantly easier method of padding, but I didn’t. Originally, I was trying to reproduce the Bright Star sweater, but Hannah would prefer a capelet, so a capelet it will be.

Those are the upstairs projects. Downstairs, I have a different pile.

I’m working on a cowl for Adia. It’s a swatch for a sweater she requested but making a swatch was killing me. It felt like crocheting into the void even though I understand how important and useful a swatch is. I am a contrary creature. So I’m making a cowl and there is a sweater’s worth of yarn sitting behind it waiting.

I started a marled reading/gaming wrap for Adia. Something to throw over her shoulders in the winter will be appreciated, and I’m enjoying playing with the color. It’s all linked doubles, so it’s pretty mindless and that’s nice. I can watch the world burn and crochet through it. Awesome.

Adia requested a pair of fingerless gloves, so I pulled the yarn for those and put it on the work pile, but I have yet to ball it up or even think very deeply about the gloves. I will get there. The yarn is watching me. I have to do something with it now.

I just ordered some cobweb yarn because I want to try something inspired by plant cells under magnification. I’ve played with that before but never took it very far. Now it turns out someone has gone and written two knitting books about it, so I feel compelled to try it in crochet. Why cobweb, though, you ask? Because I will be trying to replicate images of cells. It feels like the replication needs to be diaphanous and ephemeral in appearance. 

So that’s me. I have some Star Trek crochet to share next week, and I think I will start highlighting one project a week as I make my slow way through them. See you then!