Crochet coat - work in progress

For my first project post, here is the big project I'm working on now. Visit my flickr page for larger images.

First, the wool. More specifically, 51% wool, 49% acrylic. It has a nice feel, even with the sparkly bit. The downside is that it's hand wash only. I found this on clearance at Walmart at $1.25 a ball. They normally sell for something like $5 a ball. There was a wide variety of this brand on clearance. This is completely different from anything I've used before and I had no idea what I'd do with it, but I picked up 10 balls anyways. My elder daughter was enchanted with it and after weeks of looking at the stack, trying to figure out what we could make with it, she aske me to make a coat for her. We ended up going back for more yarn, and I ended up with 27 balls of this, because I've become obsessive about not running out of yarn in the middle of a project.

I've never made a coat in crochet before. In fact, I've hardly made anything in crochet before this year. I'd taught myself to crochet years ago, but stopped doing it for years before picking up a hook again this year. So the next few weeks were spent looking at different patterns. Most were in styles my daughter didn't really like, or used plain yarns, relying on stitches for textural interest, something that just wouldn't work with type of yarn.

If you look at the loose yarn on the bottom, you can see that it changes from thick to thin. It's also not twisted tightly at all. With this in mind, I wanted to find some sort of pattern that was very plain and simple. Mostly, I needed to find something with arm, shoulder and neck shaping instructions, as this was the area I wasn't sure of.

In the end, we settled on a very plain cardigan pattern. I found it in Plus Size Crochet, I think the title was.

The pattern sizes in the book starts at 1X, but because this is meant to be a coat instead of a cardigan, I went with the 2X sizing. My daughter also wanted it to be long enough to cover her butt when she sits down, so it's a lot longer than the pattern. She also wants a collar added to it. I haven't quite figured out how to do that, yet. Because of the length, I'll also be adding a 6th button to the design.



This is the neck and shoulder detail of the back panel, which is finished. The pattern is very simple - alternating sc (single crochet) and dc (double crochet) rows, using a size I/9 5.5omm hook.












This is the left front panel. I've got stitch markers on every 10th row of dc. I'll be doing a total of 45 rows of dc before I start shaping the armholes.

I'm hoping to get this finished so that my daughter can wear it before it gets too cold.

What this blog is about.

As my husband and I have been posting on our photo blog, I've found myself posting a lot of photos of the crafts I've been working on. So I decided to dedicate a separate blog for crafts.

I try my hand at a wide variety of crafts. Especially as we head towards Christmas, as I make new decorations for our Christmas tree every year. Most of my endeavors involve fiber crafts of some sort. Right now, I happen to be doing a lot of crochet. Also on my list is free style embroidery, cross stitch, temari, shisha embroidery, needle weaving, tatting , a variety of beadwork and the like. You won't find knitting here, though. I've tried knitting and can get the basics down, but have never been able to get the hang of it.

What I'll be doing with this blog is posting about projects as I work on them. I'll detail the materials I'm using and, as much as possible, photograph the progress in different stages. If I'm following a pattern and have made changes, I'll explain those as well.

I tend to buy or borrow a lot of craft books, so I'll most likely include book reviews as well.

My attitude towards crafting tends to be very experimental. When I try something for the first time, I usually make sure to follow the instructions explicitly. After that, all bets are off.

When following patterns for, say, crochet, I rarely use the exact materials recommended, and frequently adjust the patterns. There are reasons for that. First off, I'm cheap. Many patterns recommend materials that are quite expensive, and I just can't justify paying that much money for something when some other brand or similar material works just as well. I can barely convince myself to pay more than $3 per ball of yarn as it is. When the patterns recommend yarn that sells for more then $10 - sometimes a lot more - for the same size yarn, I just can't do it.

So most of my materials are the sorts of things I find in the clearance section, exchanges, and re-use centres. There are a few things I am not willing to skimp on, but to be honest, I can't think of any right now. If there is something like that on a project I'm working on, I will specify why.

Another reason I change things is availability. Simply put, many of the materials recommended for crafts I've tried, I simply can't find locally. An example would be shisha mirrors. I have yet to find any locally. So I worked with regular craft mirrors. I've also experimented with large sequins. I could probably find real shisha mirrors online, but without a credit card or Paypal account, that's not really an option.

For other things, I have no choice but to adapt the patterns. My recent and current crochet projects are a good example. I've been making clothing items. Patterns for clothes are almost universally designs for thin women with an hourglass figure. I am neither thin, nor do I have an hourglass figure. Even when making items for my daughters, I have to adjust for things like bust size, shoulder width, etc. Any changes like this, I will explain.

I hope you enjoy the various crafts I'll be featuring on this blog, and that maybe I'll even inspire you to try something.