Monet Sweater

Here is my latest crochet project completed. I am beginning to feel pretty good about how quickly I can get a sweater done now. What once would have taken several months, I can now do in a couple of weeks. I am rather pleased with the results, although I thought about scrapping the project in the beginning. The pattern would not come out to the right measurements, so I had to adjust to make it work. However, once I figured out what adjustments to make, things went pretty well.

I really, really, really love the colors. They remind me of the colors in Monet's waterlilly paintings, which is why I am calling this the Monet Sweater. The main color is that pretty jade and it is shot through with purple and pink and white and yellow and blue. So, so pretty. Thanks a ton to Natalie for gifting me her stash.

I'm not sure about these buttons. I like the kind of Art Nouveau style (my latest obsession), but I think the buttons should be bigger (these were in my stash). The pattern calls for 1.5 inch buttons, and these are on 7/8.

Anyway, I am very happy with my latest creation, and hope to later make a dress to match. I haven't done any large-scale sewing in a few years, so that will be an interesting endeavor.

Sweater Complete!

I finally finished the sweater that I began a few months ago. It actually didn't take that long to complete - it was just that I was distracted by other projects that were claiming my attention. This is the "Raeanne Shawl Sweater" pattern from Robyn Chachula's Bluepring Crochet, and it is done in Caron Spa, a bamboo rayon and acrylic blend. I particularly love the color, which is called Ocean Spray.

There are several things that I love about this sweater. First, it fits. Unlike past projects, this small was actually small, and it was also adjustable, since it is a wrap sweater. Second, it is not the dowdy, chunky style common to most crochet wearables. It is light, and delicate and soft. And, I think that this loose, drapey, wrap is very stylish. The hardest things about it were the band - for some reason, I couldn't stick to 16 single crochet stitches - it would suddenly morph into something far too long or too short, and it is actually still wonky in a few places. Oh well. The other thing is that the individual squares have a tendancy to unravel, no matter how tightly I have tied them off.

Other than that, I think that this was a big success. There are several other patterns from Chachula's book that look promising, and I will likely try them out later. For now, I have niece/nephew crocheting to take care of!