A Sigh of Relief AND a Finished Item

Way back in 2011 I bought some yarn because what it was made from was interesting. The fiber content was sugar cane. I hadn’t come across that before and thought it would be interesting to try. It is very slippery and loosely plied doesn’t come anywhere near – there are plys but they are not plied.

I cast on within a week of purchase as I needed an easy pattern to work on while I waited for a friend at a Doctor’s appointment. But I didn’t really like it and it became a no-more project. Not deterred by this I bought another skein of the yarn (different colour) in a sale at the end of 2011 because I had found a pattern that used two different colours. The pattern was hairpin lace crochet which I had never tried nor seen in real life.

Oh my gosh, it was awful. The technique is not hard but I had to remind myself how to do it everytime I picked up the project so I couldn’t pick it up and work on it for a few minutes at a time because I needed that time to look up how to work it. (I did eventually put a link to a tutorial on my project page so that I wasn’t searching for one every time.) If I had worked more consistently/frequently then I wouldn’t have had to look up the method everytime but it was rather boring but fiddly. Also when I took the first piece off the frame it twisted so badly that I had to undo it all. The tutorial suggested a lifetime which I used after that and it was helpful.



I wanted to finish the two never-ending shawls this year. So as hubby was away for a week I set that time aside to finish the hairpin lace. He left, I got out the project bag and I felt dread. I had five completed strips that were joined but I still had to make one more and join it. I couldn't start straight away as I had to go out which turned out to be a good thing. While I was out I had an epiphany – frog the darn thing. So I did. It wasn’t quick or easy because there were lifelines and safety pins but it’s done and I am amazed at the relief I feel no longer having to think about this old project now set to become a Clapotis.

I was going to write about the baby cardigan I finished but after all this negativity I think it deserves its own post.