On My Hook Today!!! Pineapple Lace Pullover by Ann E. Smith

I got the newest issue of Crochet! magazine last month as part of my Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) membership.  It is full of lots of fun summery projects....but my favorite is this Pineapple Lace Pullover by Ann E. Smith!!

 It took me a while to decide on the exact color I wanted to make it.....because I think the yellow is STUNNING....but.....I do NOT look good in yellow.  So I settled on this beautiful Turquoise!! I ordered it online from Creative Yarn Source.  It was reasonably priced and arrived very quickly!  I also got a personal note from the shop owner inviting me to send pictures of my completed projects to share on her website.  How Exciting!!

Now I have been asked MANY times "how hard is it to crochet clothing???"  The truth is....it is not any harder than crocheting anything else.  But you do need to remember to closely match your gauge provided in the pattern.  If your pattern does not provide a gauge to follow you will be in for some extra work....I'm most sure of that.

If you are wondering what "gauge" means, it is simply "how many stitches you can get within a certain measurement.  This particular pattern was 21 sc = 5 inches and 18 sc rows = 4 inches.  Take a look at my swatch pictured below.

If you look closely you can see I am just shy of the 5 inch mark.....but given the stretchy nature of crochet and the size of the project I thought it would not be a big issue.

And you can also see I did NOT do 18 sc rows.  I'm like most people and really dread doing swatches.  So if I can divide the # of stitches/rows and the measurement in half, I will make a smaller swatch.  In the case of this one I was able to do half of the rows and you can see that it equals 2 inches.  Spot On.

Another thing worth mentioning....I did NOT use the recommended hook size to reach my gauge.  My work would have been too big, so I moved down a hook size.

In the future I hope to do an entire blog post about the importance of gauge and give examples of what can happen if you do NOT check your gauge.

So far this is what I have done.  I'm pretty excited that it is working up so quickly!!!  And the fact that I do not work the next two days and have lots of free time I think it will be done very soon!!!  I would really like to finish it for myself for Mothers Day!!!  haha!!!!  I don't often make things for myself....and that has got to change!!

Be Blessed!
Amy B