Mock me no more!

Several months ago I discovered the wonderful, long-striping colors of Boutique Unforgettable yarn.  I bought six skeins; three in brights and three in muted shades.  The brights were loads of fun to play with. Remember this?  And this?

Yeah, well that shawl tried so hard to be loved.   I wore it precisely twice, and both times I felt like some weird middle-aged woman who got lost in the fashion sense of yore.  I see shawls everywhere in magazines and websites and they are often displayed beautifully on the 20-ish model.  The shawls looks young and trendy. Alas, somewhere things take a seriously wrong turn once draped over my shoulders.

Every morning, as I'd ponder the offerings of my wardrobe, that shawl would call to me from the shelf.  "Why won't you wear me?  I'm beautiful with soft shades of plum and orchid!"  And I would pretend I couldn't hear it's cries because I'm not a shawl person.

Last week I'd had enough of its guilt-infused ways, so I ripped out all it's stitches and rolled it back into balls. Seven days later, this pullover was born.

It's perfect.

Because it's been so dang cold this month, my husband has started wearing scarves again.  He pulled out one I made eons ago when I was first learning to crochet and wore it to a meeting where apparently, it was coveted by others.  He asked me to make two more for gifts, pretty please and thank you.  While I'm at it, I figured the pattern was worth writing out and making available to others.  And so, I'm pleased to present my second "official" design, the Chill Chaser Scarf.   Someday maybe I'll type out all the unofficial designs and make a book or something.

Chill Chaser Scarf

Click the Chill Chaser Scarf over there in the right side panel to get the pdf pattern. ---------------->

Steppin' it up

Today I published my first pattern.  Moving from Crazy Crochet Lady to Designer has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding things I've attempted so far.  Much like having kids.  I just kind of created the thing, tossed it out there to the world, and am hoping for the best.  Although unlike having kids, this pattern went through testing for accuracy and coherency before being released to the wild.

Meet Carousel, the easiest, most adjustable sweater pattern you'll ever find.  

Show N Tell

I am so excited to share this new design!  It's called Recipe for a Sweater, because the instructions are written as a base and intended for the creator to customize it for their unique size and shape.

Recipe for a Sweater V2.0

I made the second one as a pattern test along with seven lovely volunteers from Ravelry who are also testing this for me.  They're testing it in different sizes from baby all the way up to mens.  It will be interesting to see how the formula works for such large differences in scale.  So far so good!  I'll keep you all posted.