9TH Sunday Giveaway

              

    

 

  GROUP I

There are 4 loose patterns in Group I.  They have all been collected from magazines.  The bear pattern has a knit and a crochet version.  The little dress is for sizes 12 mos to 4 yrs.  Two pretty afghan patterns round out this collection.

GROUP II     

Group II consists of two booklets.  The Mirabella jacket by Carolyn Christmas can be made in several versions.  Pattern Play Crochet includes 5 patterns for afghans, pillows, and a beautiful jacket.

Please let me know which group you would like.  Make a comment on my blog.  If you have previously received a free item, please give somebody else a chance.

Finally my stash of unwanted items is beginning to dwindle.  I think that I have enough for two more giveaways after today.  Then I will have to get busy and actually crochet something!  Spring and summer are not big crochet months for me.  I’ve already resolved to get away from making clothing and try my hand at other projects.  What to make…

 

Ah, Finally Finished!

My October Coat by Oat Couture  turned out great.  It fits well and is very warm.  During the assembly process, I decided to forgo the whip stitched seams and try another technique for joining pieces.  I cut lengths of yarn about a yard long.  Then I split each length in half.  I knotted the ends together and wound resultant thinner yarn into a ball.  After slipping my sweater pieces together, using a size D crochet hook, I crocheted the seams, working in single crochet and placing enough stitches into the fabric to make it lie flat.  The result is a nice neat seam that can be easily undone if the need should arise.

You can see the sleeve seam in the photo above.  I was very pleased with the result and plan to use this method of joining garment pieces from now on.  The look is much more professional than the whip stitch.

I noticed as I was blocking this project that the steam from my iron was giving rise to a very odd smell in the wool.  Now I know that wet wool has a peculiar smell anyway but this time the fabric smelled distinctly of urine.  I don’t know what process is used to clean and spin the Fisherman’s Wool but I’ll have to investigate this a bit further.  I’d be interested to know if any of you have had the same experience.

 

October Coat

This Fisherman’s Wool was on sale at JoAnn’s after Christmas.  They only had 4 skeins left but there are about 460 yards on each skein.  The October Coat by Oat Couture required 2085 yards in my size.  What to do…After inspecting the pattern closely I decided on the following changes:

1.  Shorten the coat to 24″

2.  Make the garment straight instead of A-Line

3.  Reduce the number of bobble rows used as trim

4.  Add buttons and buttonholes down the entire front

5.  Extend the collar around to the front bands and change the collar pattern to the ribbed stitch

The popcorn trim on the bottom of the coat was not only tedious to work, it also used huge quantities of yarn.  Each stitch took three double crochet stitches.  I also discovered that popcorn rows are much wider than an ordinary row even though you are using the same hook size.  This is because you are placing three stitches in every one!  Therefore, after much experimentation and a lot of unraveling, I settled on working the body of the coat with the next larger hook size.  The coat, which is now a sweater, is partly finished and waiting for the sleeves.