Crochet capelet project journal

A few project notes about a cozy crochet capelet I made that I’m pretty proud of.

I wanted to note here some small progress on developing crochet skills I’ve been neglecting. I was initially planning on making this pattern by Grace from ForTheFrills with what was left of some teal 100% Aran wool from a shawl project from back in March. Frankly after a bit of testing it turned out the thickness of the wool wasn’t a good match for Grace’s pattern so I ended up doing a fair bit of improvising to make something I hoped would be useful, wearable and pretty.

Two things worth noting: the first is that I’m getting much better at reading patterns (even when I'm not following them through to the end). And the second is that I think I finally have a handle on creating smooth edges and counting stitches. I don’t know why I find counting stitches so intimidating, I think I just get easily overwhelmed and don’t trust myself to count them right.

So, here is a little capelet I ended up making instead of Grace’s pattern. I think turned out super well, though I do think I would make a few decisions differently next time. I would keep the stitches aligned in parallel along each piece instead of having the back panel stitches be perpendicular to the shoulder pieces. I did also actually sew on buttons to hold the front of the cape together, but the button threads ended up getting pulled so much after I wore the capelet for the first time that I ended up just taking out the buttons. I’ll just pin the front of the capelet together with a pin or even use a ribbon if I need it to stick in place.

Four photos in a 4x4 gallery. In the top row, from left to right, photos of the making-of progress of making the right and left panels of the capelet. In the bottom row, there is the making of of the back panel of the capelet, and then a photo of me wearing the capelet before I finished sewing everything together and smoothing out the edges. I used a really simple double crochet stitch.

Three photos of me wearing the capelet from different angles. I'm using a pencil to hold the front of the capelet in place, though it holds reasonably well even when I don't tie the front edges together.

Before the end: this is my second project using merino wool from de rerum natura and I really love the smell and texture of it, and want to try using some of the thinner yarns they've got. I will also be returning to Grace’s pattern (queued it on Ravelry) soon, because I find it lovely and I need to eventually learn to get over myself and tackle more complex patterns.