Flower Power

Thank you so much to those of you who voted and left comments in reguard to the Deep V Vest! It was all just about to be very helpful...when I showed the pattern to my husband, and he confessed a great dislike to it. Now I could have sworn that I'd showed him it before, and that he'd thought it was cool then. But maybe I just imagined that. Who knows. The point is, I could still knit it, but then I will be spending all those hours creating something that he's not going to like on me, and knowing that will always make me not really want to wear it or feel good in it. Harumph. The pattern looks so fun that I almost feel like doing it anyway. But better sense prevails. So anyway, thank you anyway, everyone.

A few weeks ago, the store manager at Major Craft Store gave me an armful of some new cotton yarn they just got in called Bernat Handicrafter. For whatever reason, I had zero motivation to work it up, so it's just been sitting on my desk for 2 or 3 weeks. Bad me.

Finally, on Saturday, I decided to stop putting it off. There are 4 free patterns that are hanging up in tear-off pads by the yarn display; a bag, a hat, a poncho and a rug. The manager had asked me to crochet a hat and a poncho. The problem is...well, it's not that I'm prejudiced towards poncho makers (or will hold anything against you if you happen to love 'em), but...by the time that I started knitting a year ago, I knew that ponchos were already on their way out in the fashion industry, since their wild reintroduction to the market 5 years ago. I have no idea why people still spend so much time crafting something that is only still popular in the fiber arts world. (This does not apply to doll-wear -- their clothing is small, plus anything for a doll is adorable no matter what it is, and has a certain timelessnes to it somehow) But maybe it doesn't matter to anyone that it's "out"? Again, I'm not trying to bash anyone; these are simply questions that I ask myself.

So. I kind of have this pact with myself that I Will Not For Any Reason knit or crochet a poncho. Plus, I doubt that the store will pay me enough for my trouble and dislike (thus far, I've been paid, at the most, $3 an hour for my time, when all is said and done). Instead, I am un-venting a bag. It's a cross between Bernat's Flower Power Rug and the Textured Tweed Clutch (IK Crochet Fall 2005)


Here are the front and back pieces blocking. The long yellow thing is the strap (seemingly endless!), and in the upper left corner is the baby hat.

Something a little disturbing that I realized is that I've been crocheting wrong for a year-and-a-half now. Look at the inside of the hat:

Those lines shouldn't be there (I don't think?) I've been picking up only one loop in every stitch instead of the whole "v". It seems from Happy Hooker that I'm supposed to be picking up both those loops, which makes the fabric more uniform on both sides. Can anyone prove or disprove this point?

Something that's making me crazy is that I can't finish this hat, because I can't figure out the Crab Stitch. I know that this hat doesn't HAVE to have it, but I want to know how to do it! I've tried to work from several sets of directions on the web, but to no avail. Hopefully tonight at SnB someone will know how and can help me. I hope to turn both these pieces in to the store by tomorrow.