Sunday Swatch – Polaris

Today’s Sunday Swatch is in Polaris, color 71009 Libra.

Sunday Swatch in PolarisPolaris is a champion of our Rozetti Yarns line.  It’s a lightweight yarn with a lovely, soft halo.  Sequins are spaced along its length, and I’m here to tell you that the sequins stay where they are.  This is a sturdy yarn.

Sunday Swatch Polaris in car door 1How do I know?  Coming home from work a few days ago, I made it all the way into the house before I felt a tug coming from my purse.  I walked back outside and saw what no needlecrafter wants to see.

Sunday Swatch was still in the car.  I was not.

Fearing the worst, I opened the door.

Sunday Swatch Polaris in car door 2Whew!  It was a good day to go with circular needles instead of straights – the cable was fine, but if it had been a straight needle it surely would have snapped.

The yarn itself withstood being slammed in the car door and dragged across the driveway with absolutely no ill effects.  If a cat has nine lives, how many does this swatch have?

Sunday Swatch Polaris_stitch pattern

This stitch pattern is taken from the Snowflower Scarf pictured at right, a free three-ball pattern in Polaris on our website.  Pretty!

Polaris is a yarn that we love so much we’re adding new colors this Fall.  I look forward to using this yarn to make more projects – all tucked safely away from car doors.

 

 

Sunday Swatch – Poems Socks

Today’s Sunday Swatch is in Poems Socks.

Poems SocksYou’ll have to forgive the beat-up appearance of the ball.  This one’s been in my personal stash for a while, pressed into service for testing out quite a few stitch patterns.  Today it’s being used in the Crocus Scarf originally from Interweave Crochet Magazine, Spring 2007.  I’m happy to see that they’ve re-published it and it’s now free with registration on the Crochet Me site.  I’m always up for a good free pattern.

I used it here in a lengthwise scarf to show the advantage of Poems Socks’ gradual color shifts over long distances.  It’s easy to achieve sweeping bands of color organically without having to change yarns.  And since there are 459 yards per ball of Poems Socks, I’m done with the scarf (minus blocking) and still have half a ball left.  It’s a pretty pattern – maybe I should just keep going and see how far one ball can go!

 

Free Pattern Friday – Color Pooling Argyle Scarf

It’s Free Pattern Friday Part Two!

Pooling Colors Scarf in Uptown Worsted Spirit Stripes

More crochet goodness!  This is the Color Pooling Argyle Scarf in Uptown Worsted Spirit Stripes.

Pooling Colors Scarf closeupSpirit Stripes is dyed in team colors, so you can craft a piece for game day that will show everyone who you’re rooting for.  Alice Gossette and Kat Koeller came up with this ingenious technique of using half double crochet and clever color placement to get the yarn to pool just so.  The result: argyle diamonds!

Who do you root for?  Frankly, I always hope for a nailbiter that goes into overtime – as long as I’ve brought my yarn along.