Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Beth's comment + design notes

My friend Beth is one of the most organized and level-headed people I know. Read this:

"when I have to cast-on (or chain) so many stitches for a project, I often place stitch markers every 25 or 50 stitches so that I don't have to keep re-counting those beginning sections more than two or three times."

That was in response to the Madness Note at the end of the pattern in this post. I swear to you this strategy had never occurred to me. I usually just grit my teeth and try to power through and pray no one interrupts me. So um please use Beth's method, not mine, if you want further sanity preservation.

Beth also asked if crocheted scarves are usually done length-wise as opposed to width-wise. I want to say that I don't think this is the case; most of the patterns I've worked with have been width-wise. But for the both of the scarves that I've designed here, I knew that the length was more important than the width; I wanted length to be a prominent design element of each. Also, the seed stitch, which I used for Snow Angel, and its variant which I used for Frosty, are very stretchy heightwise, and less so widthwise. I wanted my scarves to be flexible and soft when wrapping around your neck, but I also knew that if they stretch lengthwise they would have a tendency to thin out in the middle, right where you need the most warmth; so for those two reasons I chose to design both of them oriented the way they are.

That's a long-winded answer, hope you like it :)

4 comments:

Beth said...

Wow, a lovely thorough answer. Thanks!
I like that the decision on making your scarves lengthwise was so well thought out - totally makes sense.

Lupie said...

I found your blog while checking out Granny Ripple Afghans on Ravelry.
I have a group on ravelry you maybe interested in Lesser Known Skeins.
I'll send you an invite.

Lupie said...

So glad to see you joined Lesser Known Skeins on ravelry. Enjoy checkingout all the great blogs.
I will visit and comment on your blog often.

bugheart said...

i agree about beth.
can't wait to
crochet a scarf!
;)