Slow pokes

I’ve been wanting to make one of these guys for awhile now, but not knowing how to crochet was a major hangup. But since they are soooo very cute, I finally took the time to actually sit down, read some directions (*gasp*), and figure it out. Seeing as I learned from a random website, I really can’t say if I’m crocheting correctly or not (my biggest question is what is the right side? Did I make these inside out? Can anyone who knows tell from these pictures?), but it seemed to work okay.

My first attempt turned out to be a huge man eating snail. More scary than cute. The only crochet hook I owned was a size bigger than the recommended, but seriously, this is four times the suggested size. I probably also used fatter yarn….

Although the concept of a man eating snail is awesome, I was still going for more cute than awesome, so I went and bought another crochet hook (I now own two!).

More like it, yes? He’s still larger than called for, but still very cute.

I started a baby sweater awhile back. I don’t know why, I know no babies, none of my friends are soon to have babies of their own (or are thinking about babies of their own…. or are married….). But I had two balls of shine worsted that I’ve always wanted to try (why did I only purchase two balls? What can you do with that?). So I decided on Daisy which is a lovely, simple pattern. Yes, I did do the math – I figured out how many yards of the suggested yarn was used, and then figured out how much yarn I had, and I decided that I had plenty to make the sweater. Obviously, I did something wrong.

So, until I get more yarn, this project is at a standstill. One thing I did learn even though I only got halfway through the sweater is that I LOVE this yarn! Why didn’t I realize that I had such awesome yarn in my closet? It’s way soft and I really like the way it drapes. I began this project right after I was done with Honeymoon and the difference between the two yarns is night and day – I am definitely buying loads more of this stuff.

Honeymoon

Finally, a finished product!



Size: 34
Yarn: KnitPicks CotLin
Modifications: Skipped the lace border and used a tubular cast on. I attempted to make it longer as well, yet I seem to have completely failed at that since it is not nearly as long as I was shooting for.

I’ve decided that I don’t really like this yarn. Now, I haven’t had very much experience in the cotton/linen yarn area, so compared to other yarns of this type this could be great stuff, but I’m not too fond of it. The final product is not very soft, and it pills a bit (not that this in itself is a great problem, but I’m afraid that it foreshadows future pilling of unmanageable proportions). While knitting I didn’t have much of a problem with it, it’s not too rough to work with or anything like that. It didn’t hold up too well to ripping out and re-knitting repeatedly though (I had a bit of a rough start). The conclusion: this yarn is okay. Not good, not bad, just okay.

As for the pattern? Fun stuff. I enjoyed it, it’s interesting yet not remotely difficult. Good TV knitting, and the end product is lovely. As mentioned, I would definitely want it longer, and I underestimated how much longer I would want it. So if you’re making this and want to increase the length, don’t be afraid! You’ll have to work to make it too long. Other than that I certainly recommend it!