Bavarian Crochet Coat

Dense Bavarian Crochet Coat

I went off and started another crochet coat (sweater, cardigan, I never know how to label it). I’m almost done with it and realized I hadn’t done a single post about it. Well, if you count the post I made about the Bavarian square, then I guess I did post about it (at least the idea of making a sweater from it). And here I am , almost done with it.

The process for this one has been interesting. Here’s what I knew I wanted in a new sweater (coat, cardigan): It needed to be long. It needed to be dense (i.e. no holes to plug up). It needed to be easy. Lastly, it needed to fit! Oh, and feel good too, let’s not forget that.

Advertisement

Freebie Friday – Bavarian Crochet Square

So I gave my star stitch sweater away to one of my sisters. The other sister is still waiting for her granny square sweater so I am diligently back to plugging up holes. That leaves me with no sweater…again. I’m back to making a new sweater for myself. I’ve been visiting (more like moving in) Pinterest looking for inspiration, ideas, stitches, granny squares, anything I might like to make a new sweater. I saw a Bavarian granny square I found interesting. I tried following the pattern and in my hubris, I thought I had it down and kept going on my own. What I ended up with was huge and definitely not a square. I used a bigger hook size than the one called for in the pattern and a thicker yarn so it naturally came out big (but still bigger than I expected).

It was a little under a foot long from one end to the other! I thought it was pretty but not exactly right. More importantly, it wasn’t square.

Finished Star Stitch Sweater

I’m all done with my star stitch sweater. I finished it before my granny square sweater. I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I’m very proud of it. Everyone loved it. I sort of loved it. I kept seeing my mistakes in it. One of my sisters loved it so much I let her have it. My other sister is still waiting on the granny square one but I’m thinking I’ll just start a new one for her. She might have more of a fighting chance of actually getting something within this lifetime. Besides, after spending so much time trying to plug up the holes on the granny sweater, I might not be able to let it go once I’m done (if it ever gets done, heh).

So back to the star stitch sweater.

Progress on Crochet Sweaters

Now that the frenzy of Christmas is over, I can go back to finishing my projects languishing in craft bags all over my house. My number one priority at home is to finish my two sweaters. I profess that I will not start anything new until I’m done with at least one. I proclaim that I will wear one of those sweaters before winter ends. (Don’t hold me to any of that!!!)

My granny square sweater will NOT be worn this winter. Those plugs are taking for ever!!! I get discouraged more quickly so it gets put down more often. Instead, I’m working on a new sweater that actually has a chance of seeing the light of a cold day.

I’m working this new sweater in a beautiful star stitch with alternating and complementary colors from my yarn stash (I didn’t want to buy anymore yarn). As usual, I jumped in head first, armed with an idea and a plan. I arranged my colors and got to work. I thought I knew what I was doing. I’ve done the star stitch a million times (it’s one of my favorite stitches). I went for it measuring along my body and deciding lengths and widths that way.

As I was crocheting along, after row upon row of star stitches, I noticed a slight lean to my garment. I was supposed to be getting rectangular panels that I would sew together later but I was getting a parallelogram instead! When I first noticed the lean, I didn’t believe it. I convinced myself it was my imagination so I kept working. By the time I noticed it again, it was too late!

Those are some shifty rows there.

New Crochet Sweater

I  couldn’t help myself! I couldn’t wait until I was done plugging up all the holes on my old sweater. I haven’t even finished it and it’s already ‘my old sweater’. Sheesh! I did manage to plug up the granny squares on the outer rim of the sweater.

24 finished squares is good for now.

I just couldn’t do one more square. Images of a new crochet sweater just wouldn’t leave me alone. I kept asking myself why I had become obsessed with making a new sweater when I had a perfectly lovely sweater that just needed finishing. What would be so great about starting a new sweater? I asked the universe (my yarn stash) and the universe answered. It was because I wasn’t crocheting, I was sewing and no matter how I sliced it, sewing just isn’t as much fun as crocheting. I needed a break from the sewing and needed to be creative for a bit. That’s why I needed, NEEDED, to start a new project. That’s all the excuse I needed to start rummaging through my stash to see if I had enough yarn to start a new sweater. The answer was yes, if I used different colors and didn’t bother trying to make sure the yarn was all the same type. What was the worst that could happen? If I didn’t like it, no harm no foul. I could always go back to plugging holes.

But I’m liking the look of the new sweater. I’m using the star stitch and so far I like the colors. This is going to be the bottom panel. I’m going to repeat the color pattern one more time and then start on the vertical rows (as mentioned in the previous post).

 

I feel better now. I think I can alternate between  crocheting this sweater and plugging up the other one without getting all twitchy. I’ll probably finish them up at the same time and then I’ll have two sweaters. 🙂

Sweater Progress

I have a whole week off from work for Thanksgiving and I was ruminating about my granny square sweater and its million and one plugs hanging around in my craft bag. With all this time off, I thought I should really get cracking on that and try to fill in some holes. But then…I had a new thought. Perhaps I could just start a new sweater. I would probably finish it sooner than plugging away at my old sweater.

Visions of stitches I could use and color patterns I could configure danced in my head. Enticing pictures from the web flitted across my screen screaming that they wouldn’t take long at all to make. I was tempted, I still am, but no, I couldn’t abandon my granny square sweater. I needed to tend to that first. So, I finished 10 squares in one day! Unfortunately that meant I spent most of my day sitting but I felt very accomplished even though my bones were very creaky with atrophy.

Don’t know if I will convince myself to pick it up again today. Starting a new sweater still sounds tempting. This photo keeps calling to me.

Pattern

I’m looking at it as a template. The star stitch and colors are buzzing in my head. I like the idea of the horizontal section at the bottom  with the vertical stripes at the top. I’m thinking the start stitch would look really nice with alternating colors. The star stitch would make a very thick and warm coat. No holes to plug! Might be too thick though. I would need a yarn that wasn’t too thick. And that is what’s stopping me from starting a new sweater. I would need to buy more yarn. I have so much yarn in my craft room but not enough of any one kind to finish a sweater.

Then again, I could challenge myself to come up with something that could incorporate what I have into a pleasant design. Hmmm…this needs some more thought…

Meanwhile, back to plugging.

Plugging Gaps

Been working on plugging up those holes in my sweater. I dread doing it. I get home so tired from work that I  look at my bag with the sweater peaking out of it and all I can think is that I’ll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is so elusive. It never comes. Then one day I feel inspired. I grab and start plugging away. Yay! I finished a square. Now just 74 more to go! Yeah, then I ignore it again but at least now I have six squares finished. There are moments I think of undoing the plugs I already did and just leaving the sweater as is or finding a different way of lining it. But, alas, I like the purple splash of color. It’s taking so long to complete but I’m actually loving the result. Sooooo, I will plug away until it’s done, even if I won’t be wearing it until next winter.

In case anyone was wondering why I’m being such a whiner, here are some of the plugs I’ve made so far.

 

 

Does it look like a massive blob of yarn? Yeah, to me too. That’s why I keep ignoring it.

 

I’ve bundled them in groups of 8 to convince myself to grab a bundle and finish one square. It works sometimes. 🙂

I give myself credit for making and bundling all those plugs. I take that same credit away since now I have an overwhelming pile that’s being ignored (mostly :-)). And that’s not even all of them! I need to make more.

But here’s how it’s turning out. I am insane for doing this but it will be well worth it in the end.

Yes, those cascading squares on the side haven’t been plugged yet. There are so many!

Crochet Sweater Alteration

I don’t have any pending projects in the works and the weather is starting to cool (just a fraction but we are finally dipping below the 90’s on occasion), and I thought it was an excellent time to plug the holes on my granny square sweater. Hubby was wondering why I wanted to do this since there are about a gazillion holes that would need to be plugged up but the sweater is too ‘holey’ for winter and too thick for the rest of the year so I need to convert into something that might actually keep me warm (or my sis if she steals it from me).

The sweater is grey and black and I can’t decide if I want to go with a different shade of grey or if I want to go with a completely different color. I pulled out this deep purple yarn I have and it looks pretty with the grey and black.

I played around with the best plug that wouldn’t detract from the beauty of the square design. I think I came up with something that worked. I’m going to try out the purple color on one square to see if I like it. I don’t want to commit until I know for sure it will work because it’s going to be a lot of work. I plan on doing a few squares a night and hopefully that means it will get finished sometime before winter is over. LOL We’ll see.

The Finished Sweater (Sort of)

The sweater is done and ready for its debut…in the Winter. I would say Fall but our Autumns are still warm. Now I can finally say I made the sweater I’ve been wanting to make for years. It’s my first attempt so I’m not surprised it could have been better.

Shows the sweater with the edging.

Freebie Friday-Constructing the Sweater

 

Momma’s little helpers 🙂 Doesn’t seem like a lot of squares when they are nice and neat like this. 🙂

I have finished crocheting the 74 granny squares needed to make my sweater. It is now time to put all those squares together into something that will hopefully look like a sweater. I admit I am a little intimidated by all those squares staring at me. I diligently wove in all the loose ends to each and every square and now the assembly must begin. I have gathered my posse who seems more eager to get started than me. Just look at all those happy faces.