I had a post earlier, but accidentally deleted it… ah well, I will try again!
In my short crafting life I have made three crocheted sweaters… ok, three crocheted shrugs/boleros. They were all made pre blog, and every one of them was a bit of a fiasco, considering that I didn’t want to swatch for fear I wouldn’t have gauge (better to make an entire sweater too small, yes?) and considering that I had no clue about sweater construction, so I had difficulty following the directions. I also had no good idea how to sub yarns, resulting in one made of simply soft, one of Patons Brilliant, and one of some no-name Bernat baby yarn in an awful lavender.
Since then I have knit a lot of sweaters, but my tally of successful crocheted sweaters remains at zero. I’m determined to change that, and I have moved these two sweaters (all from the Crochet Me book) up in my queue.
The first sweater will be first. It calls for Blue Sky alpaca silk, which I am totally allergic to (unfortunately, because it is a gorgeous yarn!) so I’m subbing some Baby Cashmerino, which I may or may not have bought 2 colors of from Little Knits this week, where it is on sale for half price. I don’t care for the other cashmerino yarns (hello pills!) but I think baby cashmerino is a great yarn. The tank is crocheted in SWTC Bamboo, which could be nice, and the smallest size only calls for 3 balls. It’s in tunisian crochet, which I’ve never done, but I love a challenge!
Other crocheted sweaters that now live in my ravelry queue…
Joy (gee, way to reuse names) from Rowan 41. I got a great deal on some Rowan 4-ply cotton in Aegean from the ravelry destash board. I’m not in love with many of Rowan’s colors (too muddy) but I love this one!
Sanctuary Bolero, from the new book Sensual Crochet. I’m hoping to sub some Silky Wool in a nearly identical color (yay for stashbusting!) I know I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet, but take my word – this book is fab, with only a few missteps. Below are some other sweaters from the book in my queue.
And finally, today’s swatching adventure. This is Bernat Soy in the color Celery, swatching at 4 sc/in on a size H hook. In the knitted swatch below I am getting 5 st/in. This is a really nice yarn with a soft, silky feel. It’s 50% soy, 50% acrylic. I would compare it most to the feel of the many cotton/tencel blends on the market, such as Knitpicks shine and Cascade Pima tencel. The color palette is currently limited to pastels and neutrals, but they are lovely colors – clear and without the muddiness I find in, for instance, the Rowan pastels. I was actually at the store searching for some Cotton Ease, but I was forced to remember that I hate the dreadful chalky colors it comes in now. Fortunately, the pain was mitigated by finding this lovely yarn on sale!
I was swatching for Short and Sweet from The Happy Hooker, but I’m not sure this yarn is appropriate. I have made this sweater once before – it is one of the failed sweaters I mentioned above. I used Caron Simply soft, which fuzzed up horribly and just was not crisp enough for the sweater. This yarn is very drapey, and I feel it would be more appropriate for something knitted. But I’m not sure… I do really like this yarn, and I love the color. I think it will make a nice fitted camisole – I will have to keep my eye out for a pattern!
Finally, Laura at Cosmicpluto knits has chosen me for this:
“Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”
I am so honored – she designed one of my favorite sweaters (Thermal) and I always love reading her blog!
I read so many great blogs (my bloglines go on forever!) that it’s hard to choose, but here are 10 in no particular order.
2. Yarn Crawl
3. Yarnhog
4. Much Adored
5. Musta Villa
7. Knitting RN
9. Crimson Purl
There are so many others I love – I had to leave so many great blogs out – yarny bloggers are amazing! And if you haven’t been to any of these sites, check them out – tell them I sent you!
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
THANK YOU for the award! 🙂
Oooh, thank you so much for the award! You and your amazing sweaters make my day too. 🙂
Well done on getting that award! The crochet looks lovely.
Thanks for the award!! I really like your blog too. I love all the book reviews and it seems like you have a FO to post every week or so (and many times it’s sweaters I had on my list.) I also wanted to let you know that your Tree Jacket is the one that finally inspired me to cast on for mine last year – I think it was definitely one of the best FOs of that pattern.
Anyway…I love that Bolero from Sensual Crochet!! I have yet to finish a crochet project, but have some in my Ravelry queue that I’d really like to make.
You are so sweet!! It is nice to know you read & enjoy me, just as much as I do you!! :o)
And I see you are really enjoying sharpening your crochet skills!!
Congrats on your award! Now I have new blogs to explore. 😀
I really like the color of the bernat yarn.
Thank you so much, Jessica! It was so sweet of you to send people my way. I read your blog constantly, and really admire your knitting, so it’s such a huge compliment to me that you read mine!
Also, I got the yarn last week and just wanted to say thanks. I can’t wait to put it to use!
I enjoy reading your blog. Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful work! Last year my friend and I crocheted Short and Sweet. She used a mercerized cotton and I used a Bernat baby cotton. Both turned out gorgeous! For whatever reason, last year seemed to be all about frogging for me, so I frogged mine, but she wears hers and it is fabulous. I would definitely make it again……….
Oh, thank you! You always make my day, too 🙂
I don’t crochet much, and don’t generally like it for garments, but I really like that Rowan sweater, and I love the camisole from Sensual Crochet. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you make of them.
Thank you for the award! I would have passed it on to you if you hadn’t tagged me in the first place.
All those crochet sweaters are really cute–the pink bolero is my favorite. The pink Sensual Crochet sweater looks a lot like that knitted yellow lace one from Loop-D-Loop.
aww, you’re a sweet one. that’s a big compliment when it comes from such a talented knitter and crocheter, like you! thanks!
i can’t wait until you start ‘short and sweet’. that’s one of those designs that makes me want to learn to crochet. so pretty!
Gorgeous patterns you have in queue. Makes me want to learn to crochet!
Oh my gosh, thank you! I look back at some of my starting out sweaters and I feel the same way. At least I’m better at listening to the knitters intuition now that I was then. It’s all a learning curve. I look forward to your crochet sweater adventures…you just reminded me that I should look to the Happy Hooker…there are a few more things I wanted to make from there!
Oh, my! Thanks so much for the award : )
I love your blog, and it makes me happy to know that you enjoy mine, too!
All those crocheted sweaters look like fun!
I just bought CrochetMe too, but that Sensual Crochet book… OMG, I must own it. Now.
You are really inspiring me to pick up and dust off my crochet hooks again. Those designs are really lovely.
I also nominated your blog as one of my daily reads. I was a lurker for the longest time. You FOs are always gorgeous and inspiring.
I am in the midst of using that Bernat Soy in the celery color to knit up a infant sweater and it looks fabulous so far. It is very, very drapey when knitted, even in a plain stockinette. I didn’t have the guage issue when I swatched, and I quite like the yarn, except that my working strand seems to twist between the work and the skein – I think that’s just me, though, not the yarn!
I don’t have a pic of it up on my blog yet (I’m lazy) but will try to do so over the weekend, as it should be fininshed by Sunday night (1 sleeve and putting it together to go).
It’s not the best yarn for Short and Sweet. I made it in Patons Classic Merino Wool and was disappointed. You should choose rope-like yarn that will give you great stitch definition.
Love the “aubergine” camisole! I bought a light gold one which goes well with the black bermuda and love the crochet camisole ever since!