After I blocked my crochet doiley motifs and pulled them off of my board, they reminded me of beach and reef creatures flattened out on the faded wood shore of my upstairs balcony. These projects were experiments in packing light (a definitely success), playing with crochet (another success) and learning about how to pick the right hook for the 5/2 perle cotton I was using (again, another victory).
I worked the blue/green/ecru motif with a US size 3 steel hook, the ecru and orange motif with a US size 5 steel hook and the pink and white motif with a US size 6 (maybe 7... my memory is bad and I was dithering a bit on it) steel hook. The first motif was a little loosey goosey, the third motif, a bit too stiff, the motif crocheted with the size 5 hook was right on target and I think that motif is my favorite of the lot.
I still have to weave the ends in (that's why the joining area looks a bit wonky in the center flower motif), but I think it blocked out well into a very nice approximation of the same motif in the book. And not bad at all for my second attempt at crochet on tiny tiny hooks. One thing that it took me a little while to learn was to make sure that I created my slip stitches on the short piece of the hook that was the right diameter instead of letting it ride to close to the base.
I like this motif a great deal and it is not all that hard to construct, but it needed to be on a bigger hook -- it's much too firm. I like the variegated effect quite a lot, though, and need to find a source of perle cotton on cones with similar color changes.
All in all, these were fun little projects, and I can totally see working multiple motifs up to use as a special dresser cover or other household decorator piece. Surprisingly, working with the fine perle cotton was not all that much harder than the crochet I have done with yarn and bigger hooks. This book was a great purchase and I know that you'll be seeing more things from it in the future!
I worked the blue/green/ecru motif with a US size 3 steel hook, the ecru and orange motif with a US size 5 steel hook and the pink and white motif with a US size 6 (maybe 7... my memory is bad and I was dithering a bit on it) steel hook. The first motif was a little loosey goosey, the third motif, a bit too stiff, the motif crocheted with the size 5 hook was right on target and I think that motif is my favorite of the lot.
I still have to weave the ends in (that's why the joining area looks a bit wonky in the center flower motif), but I think it blocked out well into a very nice approximation of the same motif in the book. And not bad at all for my second attempt at crochet on tiny tiny hooks. One thing that it took me a little while to learn was to make sure that I created my slip stitches on the short piece of the hook that was the right diameter instead of letting it ride to close to the base. I like this motif a great deal and it is not all that hard to construct, but it needed to be on a bigger hook -- it's much too firm. I like the variegated effect quite a lot, though, and need to find a source of perle cotton on cones with similar color changes.
All in all, these were fun little projects, and I can totally see working multiple motifs up to use as a special dresser cover or other household decorator piece. Surprisingly, working with the fine perle cotton was not all that much harder than the crochet I have done with yarn and bigger hooks. This book was a great purchase and I know that you'll be seeing more things from it in the future!
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The size five version is my fav as well--it has the best balance of positive and negative space (for my tastes). My grandmother made dresses for my sister and I when we were little--crocheted tops with seersucker skirts--once the camera is charged, I'll take a pic and e-mail you. I think Z needs a crocheted sun dress!
My preferred motif is tied between the size 3 and the size 5. While it might be loosy goosy to you, it looks pretty good in the photos. If you made a second one with the same specifications, you could crochet them together and add a small pillow form for a gorgeous little pillow for Z.