Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful

So, today the Mad Crocheter shared with me the exciting new fact (to me) that crocheting is apparently HUGE in Japan.

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I'm reeling, really and truly, I am.
If you have a minute and like to laugh at translations into English, check out Amazon for "kyuuto" - Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful by Narumi Ogawa just happened to be my favorite.

I must confess that one of the other high lights of my life was reading the translated instruction manual (Chinese to English) of my swift. I literally collapsed on the floor, it was so weird.

Mittletts - or, how I started to crochet

Please excuse these even worse than usual pictures - taking pictures one handed of one's own hand . . .

I did a riff on Fetching here, nothing very exciting, but the Brown Sheep is nice, and I like to put them in the dryer for a few minutes to get them to pull together.

The crochet is the edging - it's a picot edging I got from Vogue Knitting (I think this is the later edition of the one I have, it's a great book for technique stuff from finishing to design).

It's not complicated, but it's a start . . .

Maybe a combined project next, maybe a shawl???????

Knit Versus Crochet (ala _Mad Magazine_) in which I natter on and on and on . . ..

Remember the two birds who were always blowing each other up? Yeah, I never really got Mad Magazine when I was a kid . . .
So this, is nothing like that. Actually, it's all about getting along.

The Mad Crocheter and I have been talking about knitting and crocheting for a few years now. In fact, I think I can lay blame at that door for even getting around to starting this blog at all. Some of the first conversations we had were about what's up with the knitting snobbery? How come crochet seems to get a bad rap? We kicked around various theories: knitting is more utilitarian because one uses it to make clothes; crocheting is more of purely decorative art (edgings on hankies, doilies, etc.); knitting is more of a Northern/industrialized/puritanical pursuit (images of those stern faced ladies in mill towns making socks by candle light as it got dark at 4pm in the winter) while a more Southern pursuit (refined ladies doing fine work while socializing out on verandas); the socio-economic factor (your granny making afghans out of $1.99/in. skeins of acrylic versus Julia Roberts bringing her knitting on the set, all those designers writing patterns for knitting, working with tony yarn producers culminating in the knitting revival of the 80's and 90's).
They were some mighty interesting conversations, but the more we talked, the more I became convinced that one of the main things bringing down the potential good name of crochet was that crocheters tended to use crappy materials.
You see, T.M.C. would talk about going to Michael's for some Lion Brand for an afghan, and while there's certainly nothing wrong with that, I wondered what might result if they field of play were broadened for T.M.C.? I talked about the concept of hand and T.M.C. sort of gave me these funny looks, and confessed discomfort with "yarn snobbery". No, no, I tried to play it as a larger interaction of tool and use and lo and behold . . .
So now I've seen T.M.C. make clothes, crocheted sweaters and hats and they ROCK, they really do, but man, they ain't made of acrylic.
So today, I sent the shot across the bow about we should try to design patterns that have to use both - like a book of piano duets, it could be two person patterns - go find a knitter or crocheter and make these things, because you'll need someone who can do both. Strength through unity. Kind of a cool idea, I thought.

Then, a snag . . . .

Hand again. T.M.C.'s stuff is really lovely, and the clothing is mainly cotton or cotton blend. But I find that stuff really hard to knit with; it hangs wrong, it stretches out, the necks look lousy, but for crochet, cotton and blends looks great.
My theory: knit works best on wool blends because of the kind of fabric it makes, more drape-y,while crochet, which is basically made of knots, works better with plant fibers which create a softer, more supple fabric.
Not a nail in the coffin lid of my "fiber-ists without borders pattern collection" idea, but something to keep in mind perhaps . . .

Noro Daria Exchange Bag

After a week of thinking of nothing but the Noro Daria I was talking about recently, I gave up and went back to Knitch to buy it. It's the most I've spent on a single project so far, but sometimes you have to treat yourself. I promptly started on the Exchange Bag from The Happy Hooker, and this is my progress thus far. The colors make me think of fall, and I really love the way they bob in and out of the shell pattern.

The project has not been without tears -- there's been a lot of ripping out and redoing, and the cord was hard on my hands, especially at first. I usually go for yarns that feel even better than they look, just because I love the way the yarn feels going through my fingers. I'm actually really glad I tried something different this time; it gave me a perspective on what Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was talking about in her book At Knit's End:

Imagine this: you are shipwrecked on an island with only the knitting that you had with you on the boat. When you are done knitting it, do you unravel the work and start again, just to have something to knit? If so, you are a process knitter. You knit for the pleasure of knitting. If you imagine that, upon finishing, you put on the sweater and go look for wild grasses that you could knit into a tent or a hammock, you are a product knitter. You knit for the pleasure of the finished item.

I'm normally a process crocheter through and through, but I've gotten through the rough spots on this one by focusing on how cute my finished purse will look. It's good to see things from the other side.