Chevron Cowl

The Chevron Cowl from the winter 2010 issue of knit simple is final complete.  And I love it. The pattern is a simple chevron stitch. The designer is Jeannie Chin. The yarn is Red Heart’s Ecoway, which I had not worked with before. http://www.redheart.com/yarn/eco-ways. It is hard to believe that yarn made from “30% recycled polyester from plastics found in soda and water bottles” could be this soft. I love the sheen of this yarn.  The colorway is sand and mushroom. The yarn is listed as a 4 weight, but I found it to be just a tad bit finer than other 4 weight yarns in my stash.

The pattern suggested a size I hook, but after making the gauge swatch, I found that I needed to go down a size to a size H hook.

I did find an error in the pattern. In rounds 2 and 3 you will find instructions that that say to “skip 2 ch”; it should read skip 2 dc, so don’t let that throw you off.

Here is my beautiful niece Amanda modeling the cowl for me.  This picture was taken at Amanda’s bridal shower. She is dressed for the shower and not for modeling the cowl per se, but none the less, she was gracious enough to model the cowl so that I could show you the finished object.

Teach a Young Person How to Crochet

On March 28^th, seven members of the Missouri Valley Needle Arts Group volunteered to help 23 members of the third, fourth and fifth grade elementary school learn to crochet. This was done in honor of National Crochet Month.  Our lesson was two and a half hours long, and students were able to come and go, however, most students showed up at the beginning and stayed until the end. We had four learning objectives for our beginner crochet artists:

·        hold the hook

·        hold the yarn

·        make a chain

·        fun

I’m happy to say that we accomplished all of our objectives and several students asked when the next lesson was going to be.  It is amazing what you can make with a simple chain. Students crocheted: hair ties, necklaces, bracelets, bookmarks, belts, and shoelaces.  A couple of students tried to see who could make the longest chain.

If you are interested in doing something similar, my advice is to keep it simple and keep it fun. One adult volunteer to three students is about the right ratio. Use large hooks, H I or J, and bright worsted weight yarn. Variegated colors were popular with the students.  Our group furnished the hooks and the yarn, and there was no charge to the students. We worked with our local library on space and advertising. One of our volunteers bought extra hooks and yarn so that every student that wanted to take home a hook and a skein of yarn home could. It was not my original intent to provide a free hook and yarn for every student to take home, and I know that many groups may not have the resources to do this. But I can tell you the kids were very excited about leaving with their own hook and yarn and several were seen leaving with more than one skein of yarn.

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures of our crochet event. If you have any questions about hosting something similar, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.