I checked a book called "Cool Crochet" (hahahahaha) out of our local library, and found a pattern for the Suzanne Hoodie inside. Intrigued, I splurged on some wool-ease (part wool, part acrylic) yarn and set to work. The hoodie was finished within a week, but it took me a couple more months to finally get up the nerve to hand-sew in the zipper. And here it is:
Hmm, perhaps I should have put shoes on before the photo shoot. I tried cropping the picture, but it looked odd.
I should have made the hoodie a bit longer. Oh well.
Holy moly, this wool-ease yarn is WARM, so even though the hoodie fabric is not dense, I get really, really hot in it. So hot, in fact, that I can't really wear it over anything other than a tank top, even in the dead of winter.
All in all, I think it turned out well, but every time I wear it, I can't help tugging on it, trying in vain to make it longer. No, I can't just add more rows at the bottom; that would require tearing out the zipper, undoing the edging (which goes all the way around the hood), and a lot of screaming and gnashing of teeth. So, I will just wear it as a slightly cropped hoodie.
Inspired by my friend, Joann, I next attempted to make myself my very own Sassenach Claire Outlander Cowl. It turned out ok, but even though I used the largest hook that is sold in craft stores (a Q), the cowl still turned out smaller and stiffer than it is supposed to be, so it doesn't drape as well as I wanted it to. I was hoping for a cowl I could wear inside, but it's so stiff that it really only works as a scarf-replacer to wear outside on really cold days.
Then, I finally gave in to temptation and purchased one of the most gorgeous shoulder wrap patterns I have ever seen on Pinterest or Ravelry, the Jagged Edge Shoulder Wrap by Joyce Lewis. Splurging on nice 100% wool, I picked black so that it would match everything. The pattern is spectacular and so fun to crochet.... I finished it in no time!
Gorgeous and perfect.... all except the color. I think I look like a little old grieving widow from Sicily. SHOOT! I need to pick a brighter, happier color-- or even brown to coordinate with my hair-- anything besides black! But seriously, this is by far the prettiest article of clothing I have ever crocheted for myself. Maybe I'll try to find a pretty variegated yarn to use on my next attempt....
The final non-hat articles of clothing that I crocheted recently are two pairs of slippers. My mother-in-law asked if I could crochet her some slippers about 10 years ago, and she has worn the slippers I made her back then (she calls them her "woobies") so much that there are large holes in them now. So, I set to work on a new pair, using a really old pattern that I'm pretty sure I used for the first pair of woobies, the Easy Slippers for Beginners. I was afraid that the first pair (the red ones) turned out too small, so I made another pair (the blue ones) in slightly thicker yarn with a larger hook.
In the end, the red slippers ended up fitting my mother-in-law perfectly, and I am now left with an extra pair of slippers. They are roughly women's size 10 or 11 (depending how you like your slippers to fit), and they are up for grabs if anyone wants them! I'll ship them to you for free. :)
I think I'm going to redouble my efforts to learn how to knit (and choose better colors!!) so I can attempt to make myself some more wearable clothing. Onward!
