On Monday, Beentsy tweeted a link to Heidi Bears’ Happypotamus The Happy Hippo Crochet Pattern. My best friend, Michael, is a hippo fanatic and I immediately became obsessed with making him a hippo for Christmas.
Last night I decided that as a relatively inexperienced crocheter, that I should make a test hexagon with the free African Flower Hexagon Tutorial, in order to see if it was something that I could handle. My concerns were that I could have problems with the pattern and that I could have problems with crocheting fingering-weight yarn.
Hippo Test Hexagon
I was feeling crappy yesterday (Thanks for the allergies Spring!) but I managed to work up the example with no major issues. I don’t currently have a 2 mm crochet hook , so I used the smallest one I have which is a 3.25 mm.
Last month, I started to figure out my plans for a Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig. It started by realizing that the three skeins of Knit Picks Shadow I had in the Foxtrot colourway would likely not be enough, especially since I wanted to lengthen the sleeves and body. After some browsing through Ravelry projects I decided that since the Foxtrot was no longer available that I would make a striped version instead. So I ordered another two skeins of Knit Picks Shadow Tonal in the Pearlescent colourway.
When my yarn arrived I did a swatch, starting with 3.5 mm needles and then moving up to 4 mm needles. I also practiced the back join method of weaving in ends as you go which works well with stripes, from the tutorial I found on the Tech Knitting blog. I really liked the fabric with the 3.5 mm needles but I got gauge with the 4 mm needles, I decided to go with the gauge that Hannah specified instead of adjusting the pattern (at least this time).
Featherweight Cardi Swatch
Next up was deciding what size to make. Again I went through a number of the projects on Ravelry and the consistent message was that no or negative ease fit better. So I decided on the 38.5” bust measurement based on the size I was in my head. Then I actually measured myself and either I’m bigger than I was, I did it wrong, or my memory is wrong and went up to the 42” size with no ease. I’ve also decided to start specifying how much ease I made sweaters with. I know when I’m trying to figure out what size to make in a pattern I often look at how the pattern looks on other people and see if they mentioned what size they made and how much ease they used.
I cast on at the beginning of April and it’s been smooth sailing since then. I’m a few rows away from separating the sleeves and body and I expect to do that this weekend. Then I’ll be able to try it on and see how the fit is (and find out if I was wrong in my measuring). I’m excited about this cardi, I think it will be perfect for wearing at the office this summer.
I finally finished the Podster Gloves! They fit great and I know they will come in handy next winter which is likely the next time I will need them, seeing as how it is now Spring Coat weather on Vancouver Island. An added bonus is that they’re another completed piece in my matching winter accessories collection. Now I have a scarf, hat, and gloves; and enough yarn to make at least another hat and gloves.
Podster Gloves – Fit Like They Should
I got caught up on the fingers of the second glove, which are a little fiddly but not hard and they don’t take very long to knit. Once I finally got back to the fingers it was smooth sailing to finish them off.
