Vox Hunt: This Is DIY
Show us something that's DIY.
Submitted by Jenstar.
The title of the post is lifted from the Paolo Conte song "Hemingway," and means "nostalgia to the flavor of Curaçao." More official lyrics report his saying nostalgia, the Italian word, as opposed to the French nostalgie. Having listened to the song about eight million times, I'm inclined to disagree. In many of his songs, Conte says nostalgie, which I love. It just seems more... nostalgic. I like to think of myself as having craftstalgie.
Rain came to Berkeley this week (Granted, it wasn't the first rain of
the semester. It was, however, rather unexpected.) and so I decided the
time had come to open my winter clothing box. Packed on top were three
scarves that I'd made, two during my senior year of high school and the
other on and off for six months of spring semester. (I would literally
crochet two rows and then not work on it for a week.) My recollection
of the exact details of the scarves is a bit hazy, but photographs, I
hope, will fill in some of the gaps.
Swizzle Scarf
This was the first thing I ever crocheted; it's made from Patons Divine
Icicle White 06006. I decided I wanted something other than a standard
straight scarf, so instead of crocheting horizontally, I went
vertically. Each subsequent row was a little looser than the last, so
it swizzles. There are 6 rows in the following pattern: (sc - htr - tr
- tr - htr - sc); when I first began to crochet, half-treble was my
favorite stitch. It is close to eight feet in length; I believe I used
a skein and a half, but cannot recall. Nor can I remember the hook
size, but it was probably around P.
"When the Circus Comes to Town" Scarf
I realize that I have an unnatural proclivity for naming things which
ought not be named; nonetheless, this scarf is named for a Los Lobos
song. I used scraps of the Icicle Divine in conjunction with some super
soft Patons Carmen in Magenta, which has since been discontinued. I
really wanted a bright, warm scarf. It's a little too bright, however
(that magenta is overpowering), hence the name! It is crocheted in
eight vertical rows; the scarf pattern is in essence (sc - htr - sc -
htr - htr - sc - htr - sc), and the result is nearly six feet long. I
do wear it often because of its warmth!
Raspberry Broomstick Scarf
Of all of my scarves (I have several others in addition to the ones in
this post; one or two are knitted, I believe.) that I've made, this one
is by far my favorite. I learned to make
Broomstick Lace
about two months after I learned to crochet; I picked the absolute
worst yarn and proceeded to make a scarf that was eight broomsticks
(chain of 40) across. It was heavy, itchy, and basically unwearable.
When I purchased the Moda Dea Dream yarn in Raspberry, I knew it would
be the perfect yarn for a long, skinny broomstick scarf. This scarf is
composed of 50 rows of broomstick alternating with 49 rows of single
crochet; each row is composed of five broomsticks (chain of 25). I love
it and wear it whenever possible.
