AuburnChick's Adventures

First of all, hats off to those of you who can crochet.

It’s not as easy as it looks.

Trust me.

I tried…for two solid days.

I already shared the picture of the prayer shawl I want to make for my church’s new ministry.  I knew it would be a challenge.  But I thought I could handle it.  I had, after all, just completed the Umagurumi Dolphin…

I alluded to this mystery project a few weeks ago.  It’s been gifted, so now I can share it!  You can purchase the pattern here.  The instructions are very easy and detailed.  The designer responds quickly to questions.  Kudos!

I used Bernat Softee Chunky in Grey Heather.  My friend, Rabbitrescuer, had a skein of the yarn in her stash, which she sent me free of charge (aren’t knitters just the best?!).  However, my gauge must have been tight because I RAN OUT!!!  Can you believe it?!  And I only had a few rounds of one fin and then one other fin left.  That’s it!

She bought me another skein, sent it to me, and I finished it last night.

Putting it together was interesting, but ultimately, I’m pleased with the result.  The tail fins are my favorite!!

If I had to do anything over, I would not have stuffed the body quite so much, but I would have added a bit more stuffing to the tail base.

Now, who was the lucky recipient of the dolphin?

Ms D, the Attendance lady I worked with.  I came home from lunch, took pictures of it, and gently placed it in the largest non-Christmas bag I could find, covering it with tissue paper to cover it.

I grew a bit nervous as I carried it in.  What would people think?  I mean, it’s LARGE!  It measures 19 1/2″ from nose to tail.  When I selected this pattern, I thought it would be something small she could set beside her computer.

NOT!

I’m not sure what she’s going to do with it, but I feel good about gifting it.  She’s a wonderful lady who deserves to be pampered with unexpected surprises.

With another project under my belt, I quickly moved on to the new shawl, having set down my Swallowtail Lace Shawl for the time being.  We need a break from each other.

I picked up the crochet needle and proceeded to do the chain stitches and slip stitch.  And then I stopped.

I didn’t know what to do from that point forward.

I googled and googled and found some really neat sites.  If you’re new to crocheting, I highly recommend NexStitch and Crochet ‘N’ More.   The second link provided me with much-needed information about how to read various parts of the pattern; however, I was still stuck on the actual execution of them.

A quick post on Ravelry led me to a very interesting discovery…

I’ve been crocheting incorrectly!

Instead of going through BOTH loops, I’ve only been crocheting through the back loop.

So that dolphin I made…yeah…wrong-O.

I gifted it anyhow.  Who would know?

This shawl will be a different story.  I’m gonna crochet it correctly.  However, I still had no clue what a chain space was or how to skip a double crochet stitch.

I spent the better part of the morning searching before finding this page.  My eyes were opened, and something “clicked.”  I struggled as I got comfortable with the crochet cadence, but now I’m actually enjoying it!

Here is my progress so far, after 12 rows…

I crocheted during three showings of The Great Gatsby, and the students looked on with interest.

If I can crochet, anybody can!  Just goes to show you that you can teach an old dog new tricks!!

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: prayer shawl | 3 Comments »