Cotton and Catherine's wheel

not a great combination!

Close up of row four of the Catherine Wheel crochet pattern. Note the thick chunky cotton...

I fear this project will go the way of the try, try, try again scarf! All the signs are there, right there on the first attempt to blend stitch with yarn.

I probably need to explain. I fell in love with this scarf. Go on, have a look. I'll wait for you.

It seems I wasn't the only one. One of Moonstitchs' blog posts about this scarf, the Rhubarb Scarf, got 107 comments. I was inspired by the patterned stitch and the change in yarn colour. Now the fact that she made it from a fine varigated wool and I was attempting to use a thick cotton should have been my first clue that things would not go to plan.

Then, the fact that I did five rows of the crochet pattern without working out what a 7-DC CL was should have been clue number two. (In case you are wondering, in a cluster you need to leave one loop from each DC on the hook and then join them all together in one fell swoop. I finally worked that out thank goodness!)

In the photo above you can see the "wheels" in the pattern forming. After I worked out the cluster thingo.

So cluster sorted, I pushed on. It was rather hard going. Remembering which number cluster I was on (five or seven?) and working with the dense fabric I was creating with my multiple stitches in one chain space with a very thick cotton yarn. My greenolive said I looked so cranky, he didn't think he liked me. Not cranky I bleated, concentrating. And he certainly didn't help matters by being funny and saying 3, 2, 5, 4, 6 - any number but the real number of DCs I was doing. Regardless of this interference, I perserved, I didn't want to be beaten by poorly-worded instructions for Catherine's Wheel.

I managed to get to row four of the five row pattern repeat before I chucked in the towel. It was with a very heavy heart, after investing about five hours and a lot of cranky concentration that I had to admit to myself that while this was a worthy experiment, this Catherine's Wheel was never going to become a FO.

But, I have started attempt number two. I have mastered a knitted ripple stitch. A simple one with a four row repeat. Only row three is tricky, lots of K2 tog and yf k1. But I've got it sussed and have done about 50 rows...

Comments

[Lyn]

It's good to know when to walk away from something. I've just thrown a half completed baby cardigan to the floor because I finally admitted it looked really crap.
: )
That yarn is very pretty.

[Anna Laura]

I think it is looking good so far. I find it annoying when I see something I like but decided to work it in a different way and it doesn't work at all. But I guess sometimes it does so I shouldn't be too picky. I like th pinks and white as well. I am also a fan of the pink and green, I got a couch most people would think is ugly on ebay which is a floral pink and green number. Gareth hates it. I got it to go in my studio, which I imagined was large, with big windows and white walls and white floorboards.

[di]

Oh I feel for you- Moonstitches scarf is so beautiful, I can understand your urge to try the pattern too. And I can relate to the difficulties of crocheting cotton- It nearly put me off crocheting when I made my Amineko! (I'm currently working on a second one using wool, and it's so much easier on my hands!)

[Aunty Shabby]

I am actually a bit surprised by this scarf - it doesn't really look like your kind of thing at all, apart from the colours! You must tell me about the new ripple stich.

Thanks for the new link to me!!

[CurlyPops]

I love the colour combination that you used. It's very pretty!

[Ruthie]

I have been looking for the Catherine's Wheel pattern. Can you please tell this crochet-loving grandmother of 8 1/3 where to find the pattern.:) I love it! Tks.

[Ruthie]

If you can tell me where to find the pattern, please e-mail me and I would love to go to the site and begin working this pattern. I know it is a book called "The Ultimate Sourcebook for Knitting and Crocheting stitches." and it is put out by Reader's Digest but I can't find one of the books. Please help :) Thanks so much!

[Lisa Foster]

I found this blog as I have also been sooo frustrated by the catherines wheel. I have made a few squares of them but the sides are so confusing. I need more instructions!!!!!

[carla lockwood]

I know a majority of this post is from 2008, but if anyone finds this and needs help, there is a great tutorial on YouTube that makes this so easy.