Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Experiment

Anyone remember way back in 2019 when I made a bean-stitch pumpkin for my mom? Well, because I am a masochist, had some leftover orange yarn, and learned a new stitch, I decided to make another lil pumpkin!

This one will be made using something called a "waistcoat stitch", which I learned via this video on YouTube (strongly recommend you watch it - it's so cool!!!)

I had so many false starts it's not even funny. Did you know that it's almost impossible to find the V's of your single crochets using a medium weight wool and an F/5 3.75mm hook? It is! And an H/8 5.0mm hook is too big, leaving unsightly gaps and feeling too loose!

So I compromised with a 4.0mm hook!

I tried a few different approaches to begin with - stitching a flat 60 stitch wide piece (too hard), chaining 2 sts and then putting 6sc into the first chain (looked like a butthole, tbh), and a single loop magic ring (kept falling out) - but I ended up with my usual 6sc into a double-magic-ring (plenty of places to look this one up, and it's so stable!!!)

Not gonna lie - the first couple rounds of waistcoat stitch are almost nightmarishly hard for me. I almost gave up and just single crocheted the first few rounds! But I persisted and now...

It's really cool looking!

It's harder to see in photos than in real life, but it looks... it looks knit! I know it'll look more and more knit the more I go along, but the V's of the stitches are all so nicely interlocked! I do have to wonder if a straight increase would have looked better than the staggered ones I do, though.

STRAIGHT INCREASE:

1. 6sc in magic ring or double loop magic ring (6 sc)
2. 2sc in each sc (12 sc)
3. *2sc in first sc, sc in next, repeat from * around (18 sc)
4. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 2 sc, repeat from * around (24 sc)
5. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (30 sc)
6. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 4 sc, repeat from * around (36 sc)
7. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat from * around (42 sc)
8. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 6 sc, repeat from * around (48 sc)
9. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 7 sc, repeat from * around (54 sc)
10. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 8 sc, repeat from * around (60 sc)

STAGGERED INCREASE

1. 6sc in magic ring or double loop magic ring (6 sc)
2. 2sc in each sc (12sc)
3. *2sc in first sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * around (18 sc)
4. *sc in next sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * around (24 sc)
5. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (30 sc)
6. *sc in next 2 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc, repeat from * around (36 sc)
7. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat from * around (42 sc)
8. *sc in next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (48 sc)
9. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 7 sc, repeat from * around (54 sc)
10. *sc in next 4 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc, repeat from * around (60 sc)

Regardless of how you increase, you should end up with a 60 stitch-around disc. In my case, instead of single crochets I'm using waistcoat stitches (which are just single crochets that go through the v of the stitch instead of the top!). You can really make a circle with any kind of stitch using this pattern of increases, and by adding rounds of one-new-stitch-per-stitch-below (60 sc rounds), you can build this into anything from a basket to a sphere to a bolster or anything round or cylindrical, depending on where you begin your decrease rounds.

The decrease rounds will, of course, be the reverse of increase rounds, so you'll be single-crocheting in two spaces to form one stitch (or waistcoating in two stitches to form one waistcoat stitch). I'll cover that next week, I think, since it took me forever to a) get up and b) get to work today lol.

It's a rough transition to the ol' Spring Ahead, what with my state observing Daylight Savings Time and all...

And it was freezing today - we were at 50℉(10℃) not long ago, and today stayed around 14℉(-10℃)!!! WTH?!?!?!

Lemme cry ya a river, right? lol.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed today's lil peek into my deranged attempts at crochet :P

Go Enjoy Something!

FC