Monday, August 13, 2012

I'm a Ravthlete!


Boy was I ambitious! I thought that in two weeks I could finish a Shawl, Scarf, Cropped Top, and 10 Micro Preemie Baby Hats. Do you think I did it?????

At the end of the Ravellenics, I was able to complete the Dragon Shawl and the Sweet Eleanor Scarf...and trust me that was a challenge.


The Dragon Shawl



When I first looked at this pattern, it seemed easy enough.  The basic body of the shawl was a piece of cake once I got the pattern down.  Then came the edge, oh my!  Each row of the edge took me forever!  I had to rip out a couple of the rows because my count was off or I was just not reading the pattern correctly.  In the end I had to follow the pattern stitch for stitch just to get it right.  The pattern also stated that the shawl HAD to be blocked.  So I followed the pattern and eek!  I placed the shawl in water, and started laying it out on the counter to block it....it grew to twice its size!  I ended up throwing it in the dryer to get it back to the original shape.  It was already the span of a queen sized bed.

I love the way it turned out.  The yarn feels great, the drape is perfect and it is just lovely!



The Sweet Eleanor Scarf



I bought the yarn for this project two years ago and have attempted to create a few things with it, just to hate them and pull them apart.  The main reason I was not liking the projects, I was trying to make knitted things...and I really don't like to knit unless it is with big needles and thick yarn.

When I found this pattern, I thought instead of wasting the self striping yarn because I don't like to knit, I should crochet with it and this pattern would be perfect.  The single crochet makes the "self pattern" come out a bit because of the height of the stitch.  This scarf is just beautiful.  It wraps around your neck in a nice ruffle, it make you feel very feminine.