Friday 4 March 2011

It's like an FO, but different

Today is Friday, which means:

Unfortunately, while this week has been a busy one, I haven't actually got a Finished Object to share (well, I have finished the secret project, but can't share that till next week).

So I'm going in the opposite direction. Presenting: Frogged Object Friday!

I have a couple of hibernating WIPs. The amigurumi roly poly cat I lost interest in, after completing the body and one ear. I think was amigurumi'd out at that point. The other WIP was a knitted scarf.


The yarn is Zettl Fontana, gifted to me by J's mother along with the Zettl Marbella featured in a previous post. According to Ravelry, I cast on this scarf in May last year. What you see in the photo above had already been frogged and re-started once. For some reason I just wasn't getting along with it.

The pattern was really simple, stocking stitch with a 4 stitch wide border of garter stitch. I don't know why I struggled. But it was a real effort. My stitches seemed really tight, and the yarn was a bit of a pain too, going fluffy in random places and generally misbehaving. I'd been thinking about frogging it for a while, embarrassed to have it sitting unfinished on the shelf for all to see. But I wasn't sure what to do with the yarn.

Thank the gods for Ravelry! A quick search of the database yielded 94 projects using the yarn. Filtering on crochet only, I quickly spotted the project for me.



A Simple Crocheted Scarf, pattern found on Coats & Clark website, picture above belongs to Ravelry member Crocheted. What I loved most about his project (aside from the way the scarves just pop right out of the photo at you) are that he's used the colour I have and the colour I really want to have! I had a chance to get 4 balls in the purple on ebay recently, but missed the end of the auction, I was so cross. Anyway, I digress. Doesn't that picture just make you want to make your own?

So I did. I frogged the scarf while cooking dinner last night, and as soon as I was done eating I got out my (brand new for this project) 8mm hook and got hooking.


The first picture represents hours and days and weeks of knitting. The above picture is about 2 hours worth of crocheting lazily in front of the telly!

Here's a close up.


See, I just love the colour combination too much to let this sit around in my unfinished pile.

Lessons learnt from this little endeavour:

1) Crocheting is quicker and less irritating than knitting. Before you all cry out in support of knitting, don't worry, I'm not abandoning knitting for good, I think I need a more inspiring project to enthuse me.

2) Using the right needle/hook size for your yarn is crucial. I realise now the stitches were so damn tight because I was trying to knit the scarf on 6mm needles when I ought to have been using 8mm or so.


If you want to see actual finished objects instead of my fakery, head on over to Tami's Amis and check out what my fellow bloggers have been up to.

7 comments:

  1. There's something awful yet really nice about frogging. And here's to crocheting!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've tried to pick up knitting (not very hard yet...) and find crocheting much easier.

    And I love that scarf---the colours of that yarn are just beautiful, and the texture looks amazing in that closeup, interesting and snuggly at the same time. I"m going to have to keep that pattern in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The scarf is going to be beautiful! I love the pattern and added it to my queue. :)

    The yarn is great. I've never heard of the brand I don't think. It looks like it's the same texture as Malabrigo. Is it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's such a simple pattern, it's great.

    The yarn is German, I think. In the UK it's sold in Lidl (the German brand discount supermarket), so it's pretty cheap. Comes in a "scarf kit" pack of 4.

    It's 100% Acrylic, but way softer than all the other acrylic I have. I guess cos it's so much heavier weight than the rest. Couldn't compare it to Malabrigo, I've yet to progress to "posh" yarn!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The new version looks great and having a fast moving project can be good for getting motivated again. Frogging is fun too once you get past the eek moment :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the idea of Frogged Friday. It's a great feeling to be liberated from an unwanted project and transform it into a beautiful one. Your scarf is looking so pretty! The colors and pattern goes together perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You did the right thing. No need to flog yourself with unfinished projects that have lost all their energy. isn't it great that yarn is re-usable? The new crocheted version looks excellent!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...