Crochet is not my thing

August 30, 2007

Current condition of the Icelandic Shawl (which I started just before Camp).

It has finally emerged from the Real-Estate-Induced Knitting Interruptus and made progress to the almost-end.

It is not an enormous shawl, it is more of a shoulder shawl, but it became dull as dirt and Way Low Priority a month ago. (Real Estate Woes were the major issue.)

Notice those flared-looking edges? They are more of a ruffle than an classic edging.

I am currently engaged in a crochet process where the stitches are bound off into loops of crochet chains.

For the unfamiliar, this is not complex crochet, but it can be fiddly.

Essentially, the bottom edge of the shawl is bound off in a series of

work several stitches together into one stitch
work a crochet chain out of that one stitch, which keeps the bottom of the shawl from binding
attach that chain to the next group of stitches to be worked together.

Here we go.

Insert hook into stitches on needle (I do this knit-wise so as not to twist the resultant chain attachment. It can be annoyingly dittsy with 7 sts together; this, luckily, is only three together.)

Catch the yarn and pull it back through those three stitches.

Pull the three stitches off the knitting needle.

Notice there is another stitch already on the hook, which is the last stitch of a chain. The chain and the 3 stitches you just worked need to be worked together, so--

Catch the yarn again and pull it back through both of the loops on the hook.

This attaches the chain and the group of three stitches.

You have one stitch on your hook, and all the remaining knit stitches still on your knitting needle.

Before you do anything with the remaining knit stitches, you need to work the crochet chain.
Catch the yarn again, and pull it through the loop on your hook (still one loop on your hook).

Do this several times (in this case, I am doing it 8 times, which produces a chain of 8 stitches). In this shot you can see the chain.

By the way, this knitting-picture-taking is fraught with challenges. How do you hold two implements, the yarn and a camera, all at the same time?

I had to enlist the assistance of one of my precious lambs (who then wanted to do a self portrait.

Let me just say that he is a whole lot cuter than his self-portrait would imply...)

Anyway.

Once the chain is complete, it is back to the beginning-- hook thru the next group of stitches, pull the yarn through them

and so on.

Until you are done with the last group.

Pull the yarn thru both the last group loop, and the preceding chain, and weave it into your knitting (back thru the chain sometimes works, and sometimes not).

Another Ta Da: