Something Old

about a month ago, claudia blogged about this relic her mother  had found stashed away.    a crocheted stole, carefully crafted by claudia's adolescent hands, she was ready to throw it out like an old rag.  "crochet!" she exclaimed.  blech!  in blue, no less!  double blech! 

so i told her i'd give it a good home.  this blue stole had lasted this long, it deserved to be finished.

check out the change in gauge though.  on the left, are the first few inches.   did she use a different sized hook?  were her hands relaxed and happily crocheting?  on the right, are the last few inches.  was she hating the stole?  hating the crochet?  was her dislike of blue so overwhelming that she would forever associate it with crochet? were her hands clenched so tightly in crocheting hating frustration that her stitches were half the size?  was this the beginning of the end for the crochet?  and why she's a knitter today?

who knows?

Comments

[Kathy]

That looks like an afghan I finished knitting for my sister. Her guage went down by almost that much in the space of eight inches of blanket, mainly because she found as she went along that she really, honestly, didn't like knitting one little bit.

[claudia]

I plead the Fifth.

[Chris]

Hmm, was the writing already on the wall that Claudia was not to be a crocheter?

[Beth S.]

I once did a gigantic filet crochet piece (it was a peacock, I think, with teeny thread and a miscoscopic hook) and was terribly disappointed in the end because my gauge varied so radically from start to finish (a year or two passed while I worked on it.) Instead of a rectangle it turned out more like a squished polygon. Wish I'd kept it--I bet blocking could have straightened it out at least a little. I think that was also the last thing I crocheted before the knitting bug bit me.

What will you do with Claudia's piece? Rip out the really tight bit, or forge ahead somewhow?

[Martha]

It never occurred to me that crochet HAD gauge.

[Cheryl]

I'm bettting it was the clenched hands one. My hands have been clenched that tightly in "crochet hating frustration" before, so I can personally vouch for the effect it would have on gauge.

[Laurie]

Good history. Maybe it was the learning curve. Hard to say if the relaxation phase was at the beginning or the end!

[elisa]

Okay, that's just cool.

[Vera]

Nice save. I so wish that I had some of the things I crocheted years ago.

[anjo]

Regardless of all these questions ( ;~) ), it was awfully darn nice of you to give this old stole a new home AND a new life. Very cool...and there's history!

[SpiderWomanKnits]

Too curious...

The first thing I ever made with a stick and yarn was a crocheted scarf and my stitches were so tight that I couldn't even get the hook in anymore.