>Life rarely offers the chance for a do-over. When the opportunity arises, you gotta grab it.

I have learned so much since I first started working on the designs for Amazing Crochet Lace three years ago. My pattern writing skills, I am glad to announce, are MUCH improved. Also I gained more experience in extrapolating sizes. Things I had not thought necessary at the time or even possible are now completely doable.

I’ve been fielding requests for extra sizing for the design Abydos, which is one of the more accessible garments in the book. I look back at what I originally wrote and I can hear my inner voice screaming at me, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”, because the solutions are so clear today. At the time I was convinced that adding more ease to the garment by increasing the width at the underarm would be disastrous and would result in bad proportions. Re-making a sample vest has shown me that this adjustment can and does work well.

So, you say, it’s about time. Here are my suggestions for making the Abydos vest (pages 128-130), sized for approximately 42, 48 and 52″ finished bust.

For 42 (48, 52), make same as Size MED (LARGE, LARGE ) until Joining Row for underarms.

42 (48, 52) JOINING ROW: Instead of 7 (11, 11) BASE/CH/SC, make 9 (13, 15) BASE CH/SC at each underarm.

42 (48) BODY RND 1: Ch 4, *sk next 2 sc of underarm, V in next sc, [sk next 3 sc, V in next sc] 1 (2) times, sk remaining 2 sc, V in 3rd tr of next 13 shells*; repeat from * to* , except omit last V, instead work tr in same tr as beg, ch 1, hdc in top of beg ch, turn.

52 BODY RND 1: Ch 4, *sk next sc of underarm, V in next sc, [sk next 3 sc, V in next sc] 3 times, sk remaining sc, V in 3rd tr of next 13 shells*; repeat from * to *, except omit last V, instead work tr in same tr as beg, ch 1, hdc in top of beg ch, turn.

Then work even on 28 (32, 34) pattern repeats for desired length. When finishing with armhole edging, make sc in each of the additional chains at each underarm.

My thanks to all who hounded me into this. Really. Thanks.

> A few months ago I was given the pleasant task of designing a crocheted wrap with the new yarn NaturallyCaron.com Spa. I was asked to incorporate three different stitch patterns. Piece of cake. The other requirement was to use three different shades of Spa. Not so cakey.

For I do not possess an innate color sense. I’m more of a one color at a time girl, much more likely to choose a single, solid or subtly shaded yarn for garment samples and my own crocheted clothing. There’s a good reason for this. Not that I am colorblind. I can see colors perfectly normally. I really love colors in my own unsophisticated way. Ask my friends to name the person who walked around at TNNA with mismatched high-top Converse All Stars because I couldn’t decide which I liked better, the pink or the yellow, so I wore one of each. Clearly, the art and science of successfully and tastefully combining colors completely eludes me.

With trepidation and visions of horrible doom I opened the box of yarn that landed on my doorstep. To my relief I discovered that my fears this time were unfounded. All the shades of NaturallyCaron.com Spa can “go with” each other, so mixing them is pretty much foolproof (and thus Doris-proof).

What I came up with is the ultimate expression of my beloved All Shawl configuration (see previous post). Coco Bay is a lovely, lightweight wrap and perfect layer for warm seasons or climates. The Spa yarn turned out to be a dream to crochet. It’s a soft, lightweight blend of microdenier (super-fine) acrylic and bamboo with a special construction utilizing a ZSZ twist. HUH? Check out Cari Clement’s blog for the technical explanation. All I know is that this yarn offers great stitch definition and drape and I had no trouble with it splitting when crocheted with a large enough hook.

One tip: to help your gorgeous stitchwork really pop and bring out the fluid drape of your wrap, please block it.

> My best buddy is my son, a handi-capable young adult with cerebral palsy. He collects hats, music CD’s and movie/TV DVD’s. (I envy him his complete seven season set of Magnum P.I.) In his group home situation he rarely gets to go to the movies in a real theater. So I’ve been trying to keep my promise to take him as often as possible.

>This is the design from which sprang the concept for the book Amazing Crochet Lace. Although I had been making exploded crochet thingies for a while, I couldn’t just steal a published doily design, bump up the gauge and call it my own round shawl. No-no. So I borrowed bits of doilies that worked particularly well and cobbled them together for the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl, shown on the cover of Amazing Crochet Lace. For yourself you can experiment with exploding any doily patterns you like.

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