Dress me up

Isn't this a cute way to dress up liquid soap? When I finished this, I thought that the bodice section seemed too long, or the skirt was too short. But it seemed to fit OK when placed on one of those Bath & Body Works liquid soap bottles. I suppose I could do one more repeat of the skirt pattern to make it a little longer.

I need to learn how to crochet.

I had a bit of trouble with the crochet part at the end. I managed to chain 10 stitches, that was a cinch. The problem arose when I needed to attach the chain to the other side of the neckline (green section on left). I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to do this with the WS facing or the RS facing. It seemed like I should do it with the WS facing, but then I felt that the RS looked odd when I did this. So I attached it with the RS facing.

Then I had to single crochet around the neck opening (white section on the bottom) and I couldn't figure out how to go left-to-right, with RS facing me, using the crochet hook in my right hand.

In my 1st attempt, I tried to crochet around with the WS facing me. I tried what I thought was meant by "single crochet", by poking the hook through the knitting, YO, pull through, then YO again, and then pull through the 2 sts on the hook (which is what I thought Tania showed me last year, I could have remembered incorrectly). I didn't like how this looked when I worked it from the WS.

I decided that I didn't want to do single crochet this way since it seemed to make the neckline "thick" looking and the RS just wasn't very flattering. So I did something else instead. I poked the hook through the knitting, YO, and then pulled through the knitting & the 1 stitch on the hook in one fell swoop.

I also decided that I did not like how it looked when I worked the crochet from the WS. I worked it from the RS instead, crocheting from left-to-right (with RS is facing me). I think I twisted things when I used the crochet hook in my left hand. Is this what the left handers do when they crochet? It was really awkward for me, but I managed to crochet around the bottom neckline.

When I reached the beginning of the chain, I switched the hook back to my right hand and continued around back to the left side where I attached the chain. I definitely do not like the way I did this section of the cloth, but I think the casual observer won't notice too much.

One thing I couldn't figure out is how I got this big gaping hole on the right side, just below the neckline (the blue & white yarn section). It's where you bind off the middle section and then work the few stitches on the left and right sides (of the bound off middle section) up a few rows. It looks fine on the left side, but it didn't come out well on the right side. I think it had to do with re-attaching yarn to continue knitting that right side for a few more rows.

Oh well. I'll have to knit this cloth again and see if I can do better...

Teatime ... I picked up some loose tea today, Peet's Ti Kwan Yin Oolong tea. Miss M enjoyed her visit to Peet's where she got to pick up a straw and find a nice blue colored straw under the nondescript white paper wrapper. And I was a good girl and avoided picking up any chocolate.

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abunchofus left a comment with a question, but left no contact info. Here's my response to your question: I knit the purple one with DK weight yarn, Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply, which comes 105 yds per 1.75 oz ball, and I used 2 balls for the hat. The other one was knit with Worsted Weight yarn, and I'm sorry I don't remember how much yarn it took, but I'm sure you won't need more than 200 yds. Sorry I can't be more helpful.



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