This weekend I went on a crochet bender. (I also went on the first of many, many training rides, and it was so cold, windy and difficult that today my arse would like to write a blog post all its own about the indignities I put it through, but I have denied it the privilege.) This scarf I’m working on has you knit in waste yarn into several openings (by several, let’s be clear. It’s freaking 58) and then when the knitting is done, you take out the waste yarn, revealing an opening, with stitches above and below, which you then crochet around with a contrast yarn to secure the live stitches and decorate the edges. I worked on it forever.
I had one big problem. I don’t like crocheting.* It makes me crazy.** I have trouble remembering which terms from which country apply, despite practice I’m simply clumsy with the hook, and I experience wild and varied problems with tension. For me, crocheting*** is like making artichokes. It’s a ton of fiddly, tricky work**** and usually when I’m done I get something I’m not crazy about anyway.***** Maybe I was indoctrinated in knitting at too young an age, maybe I’m doomed, but I can say this: every once in a while, something comes along that makes crochet worth it for me, and this scarf is one of those things, and here I am.
Each one of these openings takes me about 13.5 minutes, if I want it to look nice – and that’s only now that I’m up to speed.******* (This does not include time taken to get another coffee or change into my flannel jammies just in case either of those things helped.) Crochet and I are so at odds with each other****** that to make it come out right, there’s swearing, and fiddling, and I’ve done at least five of those completely over again, and I had to use Lucy’s super clear chart of where the hell the holes are that you put the hook in the whole time, if I had any hopes of all the openings looking the same. (That’s a thing about crochet that I find really hard. Knitting? You put your needle in the next stitch. Crochet? THAT HOOK CAN GO IN ANYWHERE. Choose wisely, young Jedi.)
I’ve got one end of the scarf done, and that’s 29 openings, and it looks fantastic, and that my friends, represents just about seven hours of work. Last night I snapped and knit a little garter stitch just to remind myself that there are parts of the textile arts that I don’t suck at. It’s breaking me a little, this crochet, and knowing I’m only half done… but still…
Doesn’t it look pretty?
—————————————-
*Note what I said. “Crocheting” as in “the act of accomplishing crochet.” Now note that I didn’t say “crocheters” or “things that are made of crochet.” I know we’ve been down this road before, but there’s a big difference there.
** Note: IT. Not you, if you like crochet.
***See *
****For me. I understand that lots of people, particularly actual crocheters, instead of occasional wannabees with strong knitterly tendencies do just fine and think that it’s knitting that’s fiddly and tricky. Both positions are permissible, depending on perspective and skill. Right?
***** This is like the way that some people don’t like carrots or wool, you’re totally allowed to dislike things without having a moral judgment made about you. It’s not like you can tell someone walks in the heart of darkness because they think spinach is gross.
****** Me and crochet, not me and crocheters. Some of my best friends are hook adept.
*******I want to know how long it takes Lucy to do one. Or any competently bi-craftual person, actually.
It will be worth it in the end – it is already a thing of beauty. And I bet you are better off not knowing how long it takes Lucy to do one…
Hmmm, I always assumed Lucy did all those beautiful things with magic!
Beautiful work! One would never know, from looking, that you aren’t an expert crocheter. Though I knit and crochet, I’ve no problem with your not caring for crocheting.
“Or any competently bi-craftual person, actually.”
Bi-craftual is now my new favorite word !
I loved reading this as I am crocheting together 77 granny squares that I made 40 years ago. I hear ya, I have to crochet talking to myself the whole time. “Chain 5, single crochet, Chain 2, drop stitch, in through the back side, chain 3…..etc”. It makes me crazy and I last about one row of squares per evening. I can’t seem to figure out which side my ball of wool should rest on and, like you, my tension is crazy. Thank God I have lots of knitting projects to work on so I can renew my faith in myself! However, you project looks so amazing and now I find myself thinking….hmmm….I would like to try that too! What have you done to me?
The scarf is beautiful!
And I feel exactly the same way about crochet. Knitting, the stitches are right there. Crochet? Not so much.
I manage both knitting and crochet with the same level of proficiency, so I’m afraid I can’t completely understand your frustration. If I lived closer I would have offered to do it for you though. I think it would take me longer to pick out the waste yarn than to do the crocheting.
You are much braver/more patient than me. I took one look at the crochet part and promptly decided I would never make that pattern. At least, not until I can figure out how to substitute the crochet bits for pure knitting (if that’s even possible).
OK, can you just knit in a different color along the openings??
almost looks like you could just pick up the open stitches and then bind them off in a different color?
That’s what I was thinking.
If you read the comments on Ravelry of others who have made this project, some have done it without crochet…
I can do basic crochet (edgings and such), but the last time I tried a basic wash cloth pattern – it wasn’t pretty. But I do agree that these crochet edges are beautiful and hopefully worth your stress. Unless you want to do an attached I cord for each one?
Your footnotes are cracking me up. Also? The hard work is paying off, Knitter. Looking beautiful.
Stephanie, that is lovely. I don’t crochet very well either and totally understand the thing about which hole does the hook go through and then tension…well just forget that word when I crochet. The scarf is lovely! I wonder if I could pickup the loops and do a loose bind off?
It looks fantastic! I am having a really hard time not starting one myself! As an aside, I’m really sorry that you have to make all those disclaimers. We all need to stop getting our panties in a bunch!
Steph, I hope you feel it was worth it, because that scarf is simply STUNNING. That is one of the most beautiful knit pieces I have ever seen, and I must make one RIGHT NOW.
Like Maureen above, I wonder if you couldn’t just pick up a row of stitches and bind them off. Hmm.
Also, I was told to move the music note to the circle, and all that was remotely musical was a treble clef. I’m hoping it works…
I’ve noted the same thing. Clearly the techies who created the CAPTCHA know absolutely nothing about music. It’s good for us technically-challenged people to know that the techies are ignorant of something!
How long does it take to time and average how long it takes you to do 29 holes?
It sounds like when I was making my first quilt (and the teacher had using templates, tracing around them, then cutting). I made the mistake of calculating out how many pieces in a square, how many squares…and then promptly stuffed the whole project into a bag. I really like quilting…but I like rotary cutters and rulers when I do!
I’m a long time knitter that recently ventured into crochet. I think the hard part was that I immediately had to learn to “read my stitches” as Cat Bordhi would say. I knit for years without knowing how to read my knit stitches. Knitting patterns tell you how to go about knitting the next stitch on the needle and the one after that and so on. Reading the stitches was a bonus skill that enabled me to fix problems With crochet, I couldn’t get past the first chain without knowing how to read my crochet.
It looks lovely and hopefully you won’t have occasion to wear it for several months (says the Calgarian with a fresh layer of snow in her backyard…)
That end of the scarf looks amazing.
And as someone who learned to knit at the tender age of 4, and then crochet 15 years later (from my boss!), I can understand why someone good at one craft would struggle with the other. They are similar enough that one might expect the transition to be easy, and just different enough that it’s actually hard. 🙂
I’m a crocheter who is going to attempt knitting now b/c that scarf if gorgeous!
continental style knitting feels a lot like crocheting. you scoop up the yarn, but with a needle instead of a hook, and you pretty much hold the working yarn and tension it the same way. i learned to crochet as a child but only really learned to knit happily as an adult, and the continental way felt familiar right from the start. there are tons of videos online, if you don’t know someone who can show you.
Just like knitting, crocheting takes as long as it takes.
That is so lovely. It reminds me of a peacock’s tail.
I’m glad you’re beating your frustration into submission enough to finish this. It’s going to be so worth it!
Hmm, a peacock’s tail. I wasn’t tempted to knit that scarf until you said that. Way to add to my queue.
You are a brave woman, on every front. That is all.
Ha ha! I do so love all those disclaimers at the bottom! (but of course I’m one of those crafters who goes both ways– knitting AND crocheting) Pain and angst aside, that is one seriously cool scarf!
Whoa. That is one beautiful piece of work. I’m with you on where does the hook go for heaven’s sake and knitting is so much more civilized because of course the needle goes into the next stitch accompanied by much grinding of teeth.
I’m willing to bet, though, that if you time your last hole trim it will take significantly less time that the first ones. Sorry about that.
Love it to the point of lust! And don’t worry about swearing at it. I still do that with my knitting most of the time, never mind when I’m using crochet to sew up said knitting.
You are so eloquent. And funny. I totally understand what you are saying and feeling. Did I mention you are funny? I have tears on my cheeks from laughing so hard. And the scarf is beautiful and will be so totally worth the effort.
For some reason I decided my granddaughter’s sweater would have the best buttonholes if I used I-cord. Four rows of it. In varying colors. With the final row continuing on around the may-be-too-low collar and back down the other side. Ending/beginning by running under the front base of the other three rows. On size twos. So thank you. At least it’s knitting.
Rams, can we see this on Ravelry? I don’t know your Ravelry name.
She’s just ‘rams’ like I’m just ‘Presbytera’, but we’re both dedicated lurkers. Move along, nothing to see here…
Despite being fairly bi-craftual….poly-craftual actually, nearly every line in this post made anti-fussy nerve in my left cheek tick and made me think ‘no effing way would I make this’ and ‘goog god is she crazy?’. Right up until I got to that last picture.
Shebang. No wonder you’re willing to pick up the hook.
That is so gorgeous. Totally worth the effort.
Amazing!
Hang in there with the crochet. It is not my first language, but it does have some uses, sometimes!
Love
That is so pretty! I really love the finished effect. Hope the other half goes more quickly for you.
Kudos to you for crocheting in spite of your feelings. The results are really lovely. I do both (mostly knit) but don’t know if I would take on outlining those tiny holes!
As for differences such as just putting the needle in the next stitch, that isn’t always exactly the case. I remember learning to cable. Then there is lace…there are good reasons for using “lifelines.” Finally, if your hook drops completely out of the project, there is only one stitch to put back on. Lord help me when a needle slides completely out of my knitting! I’m just not good enough to slide it back in easily and without a lot of sweating.
P.S. So 58 holes, 2 yarn ends per hole to weave in? Oy.
Amen (cabling, lace lifelines, etc.).
And then there’s all that “through the back loop” stuff, too. So “the next stitch,” as much as YH/SPM might have it ingrained in _her_ nervous system, has a few possibilities in knitting, too.
Regular crochet has front loop only (FLO)/back loop only (BLO) stuff, as well as the regular stitch position, but the “regular stitch position” doesn’t vary, regardless of whether one is performing (U.S. terminology)
–slip stitch (ss)
–single crochet (sc)
–half-double crochet (hdc)
–double crochet (dc) or
–treble crochet (tr)
And then there are those good old stand-bys which all knitters already know!
–dec
–inc
–tog
–beg [begin 😉 ]
–MC, CC (main color, contrasting color)
–pm (place marker)
–RS, WS
–yo
The grouping symbols are the same, too, whether the designer chooses to use an asterisk, a square bracket, or parentheses. 🙂 The list of abbreviations in crochet is *much* shorter than the one for knitting (see http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/crochet.html and http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/knit.html, where the knit list doesn’t include cabling or some lace terms and is still longer…).
Cheers!
I imagine it takes a bicraftual person the same amount of time to finish a hole as you. But each hole feels like an eternity when you don’t feel proficient at it.
It is a BEAUTIFUL scarf! You have done really well with the crochet hook – the effect is totally worth the mental suffering!
I’ve TRIED to crochet and plan to try again. I also enjoy the orderliness of knitting – every stitch waits their turn. Crochet is like the Wild West where there is no sheriff in town to control wannabe hookslingers like me. I do want to become a solid citizen.
But it looks so gorgeous!
Have you tried tensioning the yarn in your right hand? That’s how I do it (I was a knitter first, and couldn’t get the hang of forcing my left hand to hold the yarn when my right was so used to it) and it works fine. Better tension and no difference to the end result.
It is beautiful. Great work
As someone who can barely tackle a crochet cast-on, I say “Sing it, sister!” And kudos for tackling this! As pretty as it is, can’t see that scarf ever even making my queue.
I’ll forever be in awe of my bi-craftual friends.
Those holes remind me of a dried plant pod whose name I completely forget but whose appearance is quite striking. It’s one of those projects I can admire without feeling the least compelled to attempt it, particularly with a skill at which I’m less accomplished than I’d like to be. My problem with crochet is that I can never remember the difference between a sc and dc. of course, I could look it up, but where’s the fun in that?
Reminds me of lotus root, actually. Yum!
Wow – that looks so cool and it looks to me like you did a great job. I am only so-so at crochet and this would definitely give me fits! Congratulations on conquering it for this project.:)
When I first caught a glimpse of the close up photo of the scarf (prior to reading the blog post) all I saw were the dark holes ringed by white and thought you were knitting something with eyes. Lots ‘n lots of eyes. Which led to an earworm of the song by Rockwell that goes: “I always feel like…somebody’s watching meeeee!” I think that’s a scarf I need in my queue. The Eyes Scarf.
Looks great to me! As someone who started crochet, I initially struggled with knitting. Now I find both to be pretty easy as I’ve had years of doing both. Good luck on the other half!
I love the scarf. My crochet is passable, but I only do it when there’s an end product I want (say, a Despicable Me minion). For me it doesn’t produce the same peacefulness that the knitting process does.
But I might crochet again for that scarf…
That’s gorgeous!
(There’s crocheting in that pattern? Not, like, y’know, yarnover 15 times drop yarnovers X number of rows later? Who knew.)
********Will people really get that upset about your difficulty with and personal feelings about crocheting that seven disclaimers are required? Sheesh.
Yup!
Pretty! Live and let live, Right!?
Holy cow, is that GORGEOUS! I’m considering that for my next project, and I don’t crochet at all. Might find a way…. love it!!
So… pretty… definitely worth the fiddly crochet. May have to put this in my queue. Looks incredibly soft too. Can a person have too many scarves? I could always make it for a loved one.
Cool! Looks really good, but I’m shocked you didn’t have “harvest gold” be your accent color.
I made her hole-y shawlette. No crocheting whatsoever.
it looks very, very pretty, and your crochet slip stitching is just perfect! love both the unusual pattern, and your yarn color choice. as a matter of fact, I would call it “artichoke color.” personally (no moral judgment here), i love artichokes and, to go along with your analogy, feel that maybe some treasures in the culinary and crafting departments can only be found when you go beneath the spiny bits – artichokes and crochet alike.
PS not really up to the latest fashion in crochet hooks, but what you’re using there looks more like an electric toothbrush to me! seems to me that perhaps a simpler, more basic crochet hook would be easier to handle – but then, i’ve never upgraded from my grandmother’s hooks!
Hi Francesca,
The hook I’m using is a Addi colour coded one, I like it as well as I like any of them, it actually does seem easier to hold to me… but what do I know.
OMG! It is simply stunning!
What does the back look like? Are there a lot of white bits to weave in? The front looks great, but we all know that the scarf only shows its front all the time when the wearer is a mannequin.
I have the same feelings about crochet, although to be fair, I have not really tried that hard to be good at it! However, the scarf looks amazing and the crochet effort is totally worth it!
I’m pretty adept with a hook and that doesn’t look like fun to me. at all. because all I can see is 116 ends to weave in. is that right? sweet moses, that’s a lot.
Oh that’s just stunning! I love it! it makes me want to cast on for it right now… but I also find it funny that this is essentially knitting and crocheting (it’s crotch-et-ing in my world, because that’s what it makes me feel like) an object to achieve the same result as wet felting. Wouldn’t we swear less if we just wet felted? 8o)
I hear ya on the mystery that is crochet. I still can’t remember how many chains I need to make when I start a new road. So, I stick to knitting. Nevertheless, that is a beautiful piece you’re working on.
Btw what brand of crochet hook is that? Never saw one like it…
I do both crochet and knitting. By far I find crochet to be more challenging. All your effort and patience, or lack thereof, is paying off. The end result looks excellent.
Quite simply a stunning piece!
Now Lucy – she is in a whole different world of
mind-bending creativity. Love her pieces!
Can I do them? A few, but not so much.
I am one of the annoying people who is bicraftual (tricraftual if you include spinning), but I learned both as a child at my grandma’s knee, even then it took me until my 30s to pick up yarn again from childhood. I can also sew by hand, embroider a bit too…. I know, snark alecy show off that I am…
Smart* not snark see typing not my forte….
Yes, it looks VERY pretty! And all of your crochet phobias are fascinating to those of us who learned to crochet at an early age at our grandmother’s knee — like you and knitting and your knitter grandmother. I “learned” to knit a half dozen times before it clicked. Couldn’t get used to those two awkward, Enormous needles! My knitting is getting better, and I love it and intend to keep at it. But I’m still a better crocheter. It’s in my DNA, I suspect.
The results are totally worth it! Beautiful scarf!
Um…takes me about 3.2 minutes to do each opening, five if you include weaving in the tails. In my own defense, I’m a knitting convert. I learned to crochet first, when I was about six years old.
All my best arguments are with myself, as well. Nicely done with the comments on crochet. And nicely done holes.
Learning to knit made me a better crocheter, and later, crocheting improved my knitting. Just give it a little time.
I’m thinking, as a multi-craftual person myself, that the reason a “pick up and bind off” knitted finish won’t work as well as crochet is that crochet has more bulk in the lateral direction, and a tendency to be a bit firmer than a knitted edge (another reason I don’t like crochet finished edges). I think the crochet holds the “holes” ( for want of a more graceful word) open better. I think a knitted finish would just produce a slit in a contrasting colour. I may be wrong about this, but that’s my theory.
StrongCat, I think so too! A knitted bind off wouldn’t seem to support the open holes
It is kind of interesting and reminds me in a strange way of owl eyes.
Yes, it IS lovely, and an experienced, expert crocheter could not have done any better! Brava, Stephanie!
FYI for next time. 😉 Instead of taking your ending thread to the back just past the end of the last stitch, if you run it under the first stitch and then back into the last stitch, it would join the end to the beginning, closing the ring of crochet.
I totally get what you’re saying. I learned to crochet first, but most of what I made was actually really ugly, so I switched to knitting, and never looked back.
I love your footnotes. Cover all the bases!
Since I learned to crochet long, long before I learned to knit, I don’t feel the pain when I’m faced with crocheting. One advantage I find in crocheting (totally my opinion) is I find it easier to hide the ends than in knitting. Your scarf is gorgeous and is totally worth the pain!
That’s stunning; you’re doing a great job. And I feel about knitting socks the way you do about the act of crocheting. 🙂
“That’s a thing about crochet that I find really hard. Knitting? You put your needle in the next stitch. Crochet? THAT HOOK CAN GO IN ANYWHERE.”
WORD
I understand what you mean, you see, I don’t like gardening although I love to have a pretty garden. So I plant flowers and vegetables, enjoy their beauty and despise every second I spend taking care of them!
P.S: I love crochet, hand knitting and machine knitting.
It’s gorgeous.
So – I totally understand all the ******* – I’d do the same were our positions reversed.
I just wanted to let you know that this scarf totally made me want to knit – which to be clear – I can only do if someone else casts on (and off) for me. Crochet? That’s another story – we’re best buds.
So, I guess I’ll be catching youtube videos to figure this knitting thing out. 🙂 And while I’m cussing and swearing at the sweaty yarn and fighting to get tension and all of it – I’m going to remember this post – and remember that once crochet was this hard – and it’ll be totally worth it.
Thanks as always for a post that made me smile on a hard day.
I really wish the comments had a “Like” button.
Can I just apologies for the scores of people ( a somewhat archaic term but perfectly applicable here) that have clearly found it necessary to leave caustic comments regarding their ever so sensitive feelings, leaving you to walk on egg shells regarding your writing?! And for my two cents?, because of course I will deposit them I evidently fall into the “of course she will be interested in what I have to say” group of egocentric beings, that the scarf is really lovely!!
It’s not the crochet that sounds intimidating about this project; it’s the fact that if there’s 58 openings, then there’s 116 ends to weave in when done. Yikes!!!
122. Three balls of yarn for the green, too.
Deborah just nailed it. We’re close, my darning needle and me.
*Faints dead away*
Come back to MN and we’ll fix it for you?
That scarf is gorgeous! I need to make one. If you want to get comfortable with crochet, just pick up a hook a ball of yarn and mess around. I promise that when you remove patterns from the equation, it gets easier! I can never remember what country I am crocheting in either!
Your scarf is beautiful. And a challenge is good exercise for the brain. Thanks for sharing.
That’s absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Now I’m tempted to suffer the crochet myself… 😉
Do you really want to know how long it would take someone more adept at crochet to finish one of those holes? I feel like that would discourage me even more! Maybe don’t look further into that until you’ve finished the other end of the scarf 😉
Hmm. . .less wailing and gnashing of teeth than I expected. Maybe Lucy should add tatting and macrame to the next pattern she selects for you — and have you work it in twine, nylon rope, and baling wire.
You should try Tunisian crochet. You only have to guess where to put the hook half of the time.
Wow – that scarf is amazing and yours is way prettier than the one on Ravelry when I clicked over to see what it looked like (apologies to whoever made that one – it’s still stunning)….I’m multi or poly-craftual….knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross stitch. Each has their good points – for little crazy things for my BF like mini cactuses and a tiny leetle lizard, crochet is the only way. But for most others, knitting rules!
I’m with you on the crochet – all of your comments apply to Yours Truly as well. Glad you warned me. I think I have that scarf pattern somewhere. If I don’t, I won’t be buying it any time soon — but yours looks lovely. 🙂
It looks to me like you could have picked up the live stitches and then immediately bound them off in the contrasting colour to get the same look. Maybe next time?
I’m actually here because I saw there were 99 comments made and I thought it would be fun to be 100.
The crocheting is going fine, for the next side it will go much faster and you will be finished. Maybe want to make another scarf or something like it. I am not a real crocheter just someone who has a go at it now and then, providing its simple, and easy.
Keep your wits about you, now.
Jo
That scarf looks awesome!!!! I have had that pattern since Lucy came to the Buffalo Knitting Guild a couple of years ago and I have yet to make it. I know I want it and your scarf make me want it more. It needs to be put in the queue I guess. I also totally get where you are coming from with crochet. I consider myself crochet deficient, I’ve tried but I just can’t get it. I think that is part of what holds me back on this pattern.
I’m really looking forward to seeing you when you come to Buffalo in 2 weeks. I’m registered for both classes on Friday!
Steph you are A M A Z I N G, I have dodged this stunning pattern because of the crochet finishing. The hook goes anywhere thing, is beyond confuddling for this knitter. I have crochet hooks for the sole purpose of enabling beaded knitting, and to correct errors in knitting.
Huge congratulations! It looks stunning, now go reward yourself with a fabulous knit and a beer.
You see, your hooks know that and are offended. 😉
that is quite different-looking. sort of organic, tree-trunk-ish. your commitment inspires me.
It’s totally worth it – that’s awesome. You should definitely make another. 🙂
Oh, my God!!! I couldn’t see from the Ravelry picture just how fiddly that pattern looks! Now that I’ve taken a closer look at your efforts, that scarf would drive me nuts to make! And I knit and crochet with equal proficiency. As much as I would love to make one myself (it looks amazing!), I know now that I just plain haven’t got the patience.
Until I got to the bottom of the article, I thought the *****’s were just places where you wanted to write a bad word and substituted *’s. lol
I crochet, but I’m with you on not knowing where to put the hook, even, or especially, when doing a row. How many stitches? Is this really the end or should I do one more…little wonder rectangles look more like trapezoids or parallelograms. 🙂
Me, too! I was substituting swear words (in my mind) all through the post until I got to the bottom!
Sorry to be so long coming back with this comment, I’m keeping happily V busy at the Grand Hotel Needlearts retreat on Mackinac Is. and stroking the horses outside of class hours. Shirley (?) contacted me and asked if the same object could be achieved with knitting needles? Here is my reply:
“A very good question. In fact you could do this or a combo.
If you began by picking up all the stitches /Australian cousins onto two dpns, then knitted up/hooked up the first stitch to the right of the hole, then used this stitch to knit and BO the first side, knitted up/ hooked up a stitch beyond the hole, and repeated across the second side, being sure to cross the chains at the end.
The resulting structure would be exactly the same. However, I’m not sure it would be easier, unless the operator was crochet hook phobic, when there would be definite benefits!” Sorry Stephanie for making you suffer.
I takes me about 4 mins a hole.
FOUR MINUTES? Does that include weaving in the ends? (Hint: say no)
thanks so much for answering Lucy. I was skimming every response for your answer. 4 minutes! Wow.. but if you think of all the years of practice you’ve had, the 13.5 minutes that Steph used for each hole will help her get faster.. if she wants to. I think that bicycling on a sore arse would be more fun than the fuzzy crocheting, but the end product.. that scarf is gorgeous!
Gorgeous scarf and colors—totally worth the crochet h-e-double-hockeysticks.
I always feel like someone has a secret camera watching me as I crochet: will she choose the right loop? Will it be a heart in the end or a blob? Stay tuned folks! It just feels so random, whereas knitting even the most complicated patterns, where you go next is obvious. Glad to read you feel the same way. Makes me feel a little less like a sideshow.
that is completely gorgeous and worth all the hassle! I’m in love with it and want to make one, too.
Stephanie, if working with a crochet hook is such a pain, why don’t you just bind off the open stitches with a contrast yarn? I think the effect will be identical.
Wow! Simply stunning.
Good for you for doing a skill that isn’t your pleasure and it does look wonderful so double good for you
good for you for persevering in a skill that isn’t your pleasure and double good because the scarf truly looks wonderful
Snort. I love your additions 🙂 Your scarf is insanely beautiful!
Beautifully done! And apparently a harlot isn’t necessarily a hooker…. :o)
I am left handed, knit right handed and crochet left handed to the extent that I can crochet. All the directions read like greek to me and I don’t speak Greek.
Okay, the best fun might have been referencing the footnotes in this!
As a multi-craftual geek, I might actually try this one. Not for me (as an Aspie, the holes would drive me NUTS. But my daughter would appreciate it.)
I feel the same way about Kitchener Stitch. No moral judgement. Just empathy.
Oh, how I understand some of your feelings about crochet! Last month I knit about a mile of I-Cord (BORING) for ties on a baby jacket and soaker panty because I simply could not get suitably even tension on a base chain for simple single crochet ties.
Plus, I taught myself to crochet from a book years ago when I lived in France. So, I have to figure out if a “double crochet” is a “double maille”, a “double maille jete” or what before I even begin.
I’ll stick to knitting as much as possible, thank you, and admire my best friend’s crochet work.
Your scarf is super gorgeous. Courage……
That looks gorgeous!
I am working on a project right now that requires some crochet and I find it intimating! Trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do and where my hands are supposed to go has been frustrating the heck out of me.
I think the results are well worth your time and effort, I never would have thought you disliked the act of crocheting to look at your scarf. I am curious to see what follow up project you’ll choose next!
It looks beautiful!
Oh Steph it’s gorgeous!!! Keep up the amazing (hard) work! It resembles the root structure of a tree to me – I’m swooning. I too am a more confident knitter than crocheter … May the 4th be with is a little past due but I think it still applies here. lol 😉
If you really hate crochet that much, you can probably bind those opening off over the needles you’ve put in them and just tack down the last stitch, or else bind them off using contrasting yarn. It should result in exactly the same appearance.
Gorgeous. Too bad the time spent isn’t pleasurable. Hope you can do it in the company of good friends.
Artichokes: try to find the least spiny floret. Cut off stem. Wrap in plastic or seal in a glass dish. Microwave 6-7 minutes or until center of the base is soft. Zap some butter. Yum!
Or I’ll eat them for you.
It is gorgeous. I am bi craftual… I came up in the early 70’s when we all crochetted innumberable ponchos and granny squares to wear to Equal Rights rallies… I prefer knitting.. But, this is not on my to do list.. totally…
I meant to say this is NOW on my to do list.. I will make it
EASY recipe for artichokes (if you can crochet, you can make artichokes)! Put them in crock pot and walk away!
http://www.oceanmist.com/artichokes/cook-artichokes-crock-pot/
Simply beautiful, so worth the effort.
Usually I read all the comments before saying anything, but you clearly struck some nerves since there are already 136 comments above mine…
I still have the afghan I crocheted in the late 70’s during the breakup of my marriage. It started out one width and ended an entirely different, tighter, tenser, narrower one. I will only crochet small, tiny, non-gauge-dependent things now.
But the scarf is really lovely! (isn’t there some way to get that effect without the crochet…?)
I never realized that crochet terms varied depending on which side of the pond the pattern originated. Then I made myself a knitted sweater with a crocheted yoke, and the pattern was English. The double and treble crochets, it turns out, shoud have been singles and doubles. I finally figured it out when the neck opening was an appropriate size for a Chihuahua and, as a last resort, I read the instructions at the back of the pattern book………. Lesson learned.
I hate crochet too, for all the same reasons plus poodle kleenex box covers. (You have to be a certain age to get that reference).
So… couldn’t you just pick up stitches and immediately cast off?
So THAT’s how she does it. I swear, Lucy Neatby is brilliant and diabolical… That’s the coolest thing.
I knit her Cables After Whiskey sweater. My husband LOVES LOVES LOVES it, and he NEVER wears sweaters… he drags it out and brags about it when I have knitting friends over. He, who has felted a couple of the boys sweaters, yelled at me when I put it in the washer to spin it out after I hand washed it last time “What if it felted!!??” He thinks it looks like tree bark… and he’s right…. 🙂
Wow, gorgeous! It reminds me of coral. I think I want one in a coral color, or maybe an oyster. Is it possible to do the holes with bindoff/castons?
I learnt to crochet first, and I still have problems deciding which loop to put the hook through 😛 Still, the scarf looks gorgeous and well worth the effort!
Everything about your scarf is beautiful. Lovely texture and those holes are looking just perfect.
I’m biased but I think knitting and crochet are very complimentary and I like the way they work so nicely together. Enjoy your scarf.
Awesome work! Every painful second was certainly worth the stunning results!
WOW ! and WOW !
Simply stunning
I was just going to say it’s a pretty scarf, and that I have the same skewed division of expertise you have (except you definitely crochet better than I do), and how I would be tempted to hem the holes in iCord instead of crochet. I posted that and then the computer told me I failed to test as human. That stopped me in my tracks there, because the last time I checked I could’of sworn I was….And only then did I figure out what that music note hullabaloo was all about….oh well, live and learn….
Holy Cow that’s gorgeous! Well done! You can do it. I have all the faith in the world in you. I taught myself to knit and recently did the same for crochet. If I can do it, you can too. 😉
“Crochet? THAT HOOK CAN GO IN ANYWHERE. Choose wisely, young Jedi.”
My exact issue with crochet, but your stitches look lovely, kudos!
Artichokes are tricky and fiddly? Oh no, I’ve been doing it wrong! Whack off most of the stem and simmer while you make Hollandaise in the blender, super easy. It’s perfectly OK to not be crazy about them, although the sauce goes a long way toward improving the tastiness.
The scarf is very, very cool.
The scarf will be beautiful when finished. It’s already showing you how nice it will be. However, I have fallen down your particular rabbit hole of completely underestimating time and knitting, or in my case crocheting this past weekend. One of our beautiful nieces is having a baby and I decided to do the into the jungle toy that can be found on http://www.anniescatalog.com. I started early, the day after we heard she was expecting. I have made steady but slow progress on it. then suddenly here was time for the shower and an hour and a half before begin time, I decided I should probably clean myself up and throw in the towel on the tiger and monkey. Pictures will soon be on my blog of what I accomplished. Your scarf is still beautiful and will look wonderful on you.
I browsed through the comments, but didn’t see this mentioned, have you tried plastic hooks? I find that I crochet best with them. They are a bit bendy and my hands don’t sweat as much. Also with plastic hooks, you can adjust the level of ‘pointyness’ of the hook. For me, I find a rounder hook is sometimes easier to use. However, that’s just my humble opinion.
I started out as a crocheter and turned into a knitter. While I am technically bi-craftual (love that term!!), knitting is so much easier on my hands. I totally get your frustration though. Keep at it! It looks amazing!! I’ve only recently found your blog and am loving following along. You’re inspiring me to knit more AND get my bike cleaned up so I can ride it! 🙂
Wow, it sure looks great. I understand your struggle with crochet, as I have never been able to do more than a single crochet edge in my whole life, however my sister is a great crocheter who cannot knit. We all have our strengths.
Well, that first end is just gorgeous. It’s so gonna be worth it to finish the other end! I’m bi-craftual, but crochet isn’t my favorite. Even so, I may have to keep an eye open for Lucy’s book.
“THAT HOOK CAN GO IN ANYWHERE”
THIS! OMG THIS X 1000!
I thought I was the only person who felt this way.
The crochet looks like either slip st or single crochet (US terms). Slip st is the same, structurally identical, as insert knitting needle into that spot, wrap and pull up a loop. * Insert in next spot, wrap and pull up loop. Psso. Repeat from *. For single crochet, it would be the same, except before psso,myou wrap the needle, then pass 2 over the wrap.
Or, pick up loops around, and then psso around, without knitting for the first, with knitting for the second.
It would look the same….you might have to play with what size needle to use, but other than that, same.
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