IC Spring submission

I took it as a sign that the Interweave Crochet, Spring edition, has a submission due-date of July 14th. Seeing as that’s my birthday, I felt that little shimmery funny feeling in my gut that told me to SUBMIT SUBMIT SUBMIT. So, I’m going to.

There was a quick sketch, that I had jotted down on some random paper in the bathroom, that came to mind. One I had been thinking about for a long time, but wasn’t sure I should do anything with. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I did want to share the swatches I made.

These swatches aren’t going to Interweave Crochet, but only because I decided against using the yarn; it’s not light-weight enough, and I quickly figured out that I would need something with a bit of stretch.

The first is the full view of the swatch:

Don’t you just love the color? It’s so bold. I love punches of color. And I freakin’ love that button, but, alas, the button will not be used in the next swatch. The girlfriend nixed it as a potential since it’s kind of toddler-ish, which I get, and maybe I could crochet a final piece in toddler-sized and use these buttons. Yum! Makes me think of Spring, edging on Summer, for some reason. Maybe it’s more that those were the days that my cousins and I use to brush the flowers in our grandmother’s front-yard garden with our toes while we sat, feet dangling over a little ledge, and ate watermelon.

This next image of the swatch is a closeup of the top portion:

So. much. freaking. love. for that button. Seriously. Doesn’t the yellow of the button go so well with the depth of the blue? Sorry–the swatch! The top of the swatch is in a single crochet ribbing, just your typical back-loop-only rib, using a hook that’s smaller than what I would recommend.

Tip: for ribbing, I almost always go down a hook size or two to get a nice, tight (not firm or unmoving, but close-together stitches) fabric so there’s more snap-back to the stretch.

The final image is a close-up of the shell/diamond lace work:

I love this pattern. It’s relatively simple, with an easy 8+1 stitch repeat, with a whole 4-row pattern that you can have memorized after the first full repeat. I actually went up 3 hook sizes from the hook I used for the ribbing, as I wanted the shell pattern to be lace-y, and to flare out a bit. Depending on the yarn itself, this may require blocking to get the right amount of drape that I want. We’ll see if I can come up with a good yarn. I may actually have to hit up a (gasp) real yarn store.