Shroat

I finished this on Thanksgiving. I'm in the middle of working on my circular shrug and found this. This is a GREAT project. It was super easy, done in all double crochet - and fast! I started it on Tuesday and finished it on Thursday.


I love this pattern. The fit is great too. This is from the DIY network called Shroat. (Go into the DIY home page and search for shrug or shroat). It is done in 3 segments. 1st is the shrug then it's made into a jacket (callled shracket) then finally the shroat. It's fun to see how it turns out in the different segments. All 3 are really cute and it's worth making all three! I really enjoyed making this piece. The only change I made to this was leaving out one row of the bell sleeve. I made this using 2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver in Dark Orchid using a P hook.

And a photo of me wearing my new shroat:

Update on my frou frou: I washed it several times to soften it up. It now has a much nicer drape and fit. I like it even more! :D

Frou Frou

My Frou Frou is complete! I was up really early this morning (around 3am) and I finished sewing the sleeves and sides today. I worked on it quite a bit today trying to get the trim done. Finally, it's finished. This particular one took a little over a week but it seemed so much longer. This was kind of a pain to do. Right from the start, I frogged this 2 other times. I also ended up frogging the collar, which turned out to be correct! It just didn't look right to be, the collar was so thick and bunchy. I re-did it the 2nd time thinking that maybe I had followed the wrong directions. Wrong, frogged it and 2 days later ended up where I left off....oh well. With the fronts, I couldn't get it to decrease following the directions of doing 2 ch then sc so I did sc decreases in the first 2 stitches .

Overall, it's not a hard pattern but I found myself having a lot of trouble with it. Interpretation maybe? I just wasn't clear on the directions for example: am I putting the stitch marker in the right spot, where's the decrease - it's the same direction as the granite stitch pattern, and I had to re-read the directions on where to crochet the 30 sc. Okay, it says right front but reading the directions confused me. It really helped looking at other people's frou frou on Ravelry and Craftster. The people were helpful too and help clear up some questions I had.

I really do love the look of this cardigan. It's so pretty but it fits me terribly! I'm so envious of the people who's frou frou look so great on! All along, I was a bit nervous on it being too small. Switching to a size N hook definately did the trick. The gauge and measurements were right on! If your making this be sure both are correct. The 2nd one I frogged, the gauge was correct but not the measurements!

I used Red Heart Super Saver and a total of 4 skeins in brown. Brown is not the color I wanted to make this in but it's the color I ended up using. I actually bought some Wool Ease to make another one but with the fit, I'll end up making something else with it.

I'm disappointed in the fit but size is perfect. It's bunchy in the front and the arm area. It may be the yarn I used which does not gave it a great drape. Still, I feel a great sense of accomplishment with having sticking it out and finishing this project. It really is pretty.

My current project

I was looking for a sweater or coat to make and I decided on this. This is from the SnB, Happy Hooker called frou frou. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but I decided it would work.

I started out with black yarn, then re-start with beige (gauge looked correct but too small) so I tried it again in brown. 3rd times the charm! I also switched from a K hook to N hook. The gauge and schematics are finally correct. Yah. It really helped looking at other people's frou frou in Ravelry and Craftster. I realized that the previous one I was working on was too small. I actually ended up really wanting tomake this. It might of been the color in the book that I didn't really care for. I fell in love with this in gray. (I started this on Nov. 7th). Anyways, here is what I have so far.

I'm really looking forward to finishing this and see how it will look! I have a long way to go but I'll keep on crocheting!

Luxurious Lace Sweater

I finished this last night. This is from the book Total Crochet Fashions by Gayle Bunn. I've been eyeing this book for a while and when it went on clearance, I bought it. It has some nice things in there. The pattern I made is called Luxurious Lace Cowl Sweater.


















I started this project almost 2 weeks a go. I used yarn in my stash left over from the Empress Baby Doll Top. The yarn is Bernat Softee Baby in Lilac. I used a total of 3 skeins but if it was the same dye lot, I would probably only need 2! After finishing the back and 1/4 of the front, the next skein of yarn was a different color! Too late, I thought I'd make the best of it. I left it a lone for a day and then continued with this sweater. I was able to find another skein of yarn w/ the same bright, shiny purple. I thought I'd mix it in to another part of the sweater.





This is all done in a very easy shell pattern. Double Crochet and Single Crochet. The back piece was a breeze. I had trouble on the sleeve cap (and cowl). The sleeve cap took me about 3 days to do. The directions were a bit confusing to me. I didn't know if I was following the directions right because I couldn't get it to work out. Then I would frog it and try it the other way and still it wouldn't work out. I must of frogged the sleeves cap 4 to 5 times. Finally on the 3rd day, I just made some changes to the pattern and made it work. I followed the direction same for rows 1 -3 then instead of repeating last 4 rows again, I repeated rows 2 and 3 only once then follow directions for: All sizes next row (WS) and Next Row (according to directions) but did those 2 rows twice. And finished w/ size 2 and L only, work 1 row even of pattern. In case anyone is making this pattern!






I was excited to start the motifs for the cowl but started having some trouble again, so I decided to scratch it all together. I'm not sure if I was already too frustrated with it.






I really ended up liking the sweater, even w/ the different color yarn. I think it look a LOT better than the photos. The flash really brings out the 2 color tones but in person, it's more subtle. It fits well and I would wear it. In fact, I'm looking forward to wearing it. I think the cowl part of the sweater would only get in my way! I can see my daughter tugging at it. I was even considering making another one but all in yarn of the same dye lot! I probably won't because I have purchased a new pattern book and I'm slowly, very slowly working on the sweater, frou frou from the book Happy Hooker.


And of course, another picture of my beautiful daughter playing in her sand box. In the back ground is our neighbor's cat who adopted us.