Art

Amy, my friend and fellow partner in dissertation-crime, visited us from Buffalo last week. It was really nice to see her...but it was especially nice hang out with an art, craft, museum loving friend (her dissertation work is on art museums. How cool is that). We visited the MoMa, and of course, I had to take some crafty pictures.








From top to bottom: Amy and wool fabric "walls", a Necchi sewing machine (1956 model), quilt art, and I am sure Picasso would have also loved knitting (ok. If there is something out there about Picasso and knitting, my apologies. I know zilch about art history).


One night we ate at DoSirak, a Korean restaurant near Union Square. If I were a foodie critic, I would give this place a 20 on 10. Affordable prices, big portions, great food. From right, clockwise: Shweta, Katrice, Bitsy, Amy, and Julie.


Long blogpost, because you dont just get to meet Amy, you also get to say hello to "B3 Big Button Blouse" aka my version of the C3 Crochet Crop Cardigan. I am so guilty of introducing Big Button so late (you know the UFO syndrome), I almost have the urge to write an apology letter to her. She was finished a long time back, but was packed away in a corner. Because? Because I am terribly lazy when it comes to finishing. So silly. So guilty.


Anyway. About my newly finished project. Monica Brown has written a really easy to read, easy to follow, organized pattern. I really enjoyed making this blouse, especially since it was top down. However, when I started the shell pattern, I found that there was suddenly "excess" fabric at the back. I saw on Ravelry that this did not happen to everyone, so I suppose it is one of those "fix it yourself" problems. You can see what I did in the modifications section below.


I enjoy larger than life accessories, so I bought these big, bright, pink-purple toned buttons from M&J Trimmings. The tug o' war was between these buttons and big, classic looking, mother of pearl buttons. I liked what I finally bought---the mother of pearl were too serious for my personality (but I am thinking that I should have bought them for another project). Special thanks to Ami and Shubh for tagging along with me to button paradise.




Pattern: C3 Crochet Crop Cardigan
Yarn: Classic Elite Soft Linen
Crochet Hook: 3.5mm
Modifications:

1. Though I hit gauge in my swatch, I had to do more rows until the yoke met at the armholes. That was no problem at all--what I I had to really care about was that when I began the shell pattern, I had multiples of 6 plus 1 stitches.

2. When I started the shell pattern (with the suggested larger size hook), the back fabric started getting floppy and had excess "folds" of fabric. After many frogging episodes, I managed to fix the problem. Firstly, I used the 3.5mm hook (the smaller one) for the entire garment. Secondly, I did not work the increase row before beginning the shell pattern. After I separated the sleeves and body, I began the shell pattern (I cheated a little bit in the first row so that I had multiples of 6 plus 1 stitches).

3. I eliminated the 3/4 sleeves. I stopped working on my sleeves once I separated the sleeves and the body.

4. Oh yes. I also increased the body length, until I could wear it as a blouse. I wear it over a tank.