Blizzard Crochet Square

Originally when I started getting hard core into crochet again, I had some ideas of making things game-themed.  The first rather time consuming project was the scarf for Mistwidget.  I picked the yarn in a sage color for his mistweaver, and picked the broomstitch lace pattern because it reminded me of the monk icons and their twirly healing spells.

I thought perhaps I could run with a theme like that. Like, make items that are unique to a class but subtly so, where people could wear it and it wouldn’t scream ‘omg dork!’.  Broomstick lace for monks, a sharp wave stitch for rogues, perhaps Tunisian lace fan for priests, etc. Buuuut, would that association really help and, could I get in trouble because I don’t work for or own Blizzards stuff?

Not sure how that would work out.  Randomly ran into this little event however, which is to cloth the orc in front of Blizzards headquarters with knitting or crochet squares.

It had to be in grey and blue, for some reason, and I thought about it for a while but went with the flower stitch I’ve done before.  It ends up looking 3d and I did it in grey because it’s slightly reminded me of an Iron Star.

Sizing problems

I follow a couple of channels on youtube who create patterns I like, but I’m finding one in particular has everything coming out way too big.  I use the same hook, the same yarn, but it’s simply WAY too large.

One was the mandala pattern.  I wasn’t even finished but it would have been dragging on the ground and sagging from its own weight, so that had to be frogged and many hours wasted.  And the problem with some patterns is you have no idea it will be too big until you are almost done!

We also had the cocoon sweater, which would be waaaaay too large the recommended size of about 42 inches.  I made one like that which required a pound of yarn and then some, but then it ended up hanging past my knees.  I’m almost petite sizing so that might be some of it, but I find I have to reduce everything by about 8 inches for it to work for me.

The scarf pictured also came out way too long, at almost 10 feet and if I had repeated as the pattern called, far too wide as well.  I stopped at 2 repeats and I think I’ll finish it  but the next one will be reduce by about 2 entire feet.

I should have paid better attention when I chained the first line on that one though.

Wave Blanket

As large as this came out, it didn’t feel like as much work as it was.  It’s about 50×50 and not flawless by any means thanks to running out of one tan and having to use ANOTHER tan (in two different shades!) I think it came out really well.  I’m going to put a tassel fringe on each side to help it look a little cleaner and smooth out the side-curl.

Yarn Weights

I’m not sure why they bother classifying yarn by weights, since it seems so completely random it’s not even funny.  I’ve been using a lot of ombre/striped yarns and the variations in just one skein is pretty wild.  For example the Red Heart Unforgettable yarn is absolutely beautiful, but it’s classified as a 4.

I’d guess that maybe 1% of that skein was actually a “4”, it was more like a 2 and almost like working with a heavy thread.  It also felt like a roving yarn and tangled easily within itself.  I was lucky I didn’t have to frog any of it because I think it would have snared together horribly.

The Sweet Roll ombre was a little better, but probably 30% of it went down to a 2, then back up to 4, all over the project.

I ran into the same problem with my flower squares.  Both the red and the yellow/pink are both “4” weights.  But the red is visibly larger.  It’s rather frustrating.