Thursday, July 24, 2014

A Bowtie for a Lucky Boy

Another test run for the luckiest birthday of all (coming this October) - a bowtie for Lucky.   I used 12 g of a miscellaneous worsted weight blend with a size H (5.0 mm) crochet hook.


I think that for ONCE I made the starting chain loose enough.  After my first row of SC's it is almost difficult to tell which side is which.  (WAHOO!)


I was thinking about making Lucky's birthday set out of 100% acrylic so I could machine wash it, but on further consideration I might do wool so I can block easier.  Although now that I'm typing this, I remember that steam blocking wasn't so hard to do, so maybe acrylic is the right choice after all.


I'm really happy this bow tie is a triple layer.  I think it looks more polished and it will fit and wear better. Before folding, the bow tie measures approximately 9.5" long and is just over 2" wide at the widest point.   I easily whipped up the bow itself in a day.  I just had to finish up the band and tie the next morning.  


I wish the wrap was written in terms of # of rows.  (10 Sc rows for those that are interested.)  The wrap is a little long, but this will be easy enough to sew down in a way I'm happy.


Unstretcched the neck band is 7".  This doesn't seem anywhere NEAR close enough to the right size. Neckband 2.0 add 9 hdc's (so start with a 35 st chain.)   Of course, I made this second neckband without having tried the first on Lucky, so for all I know it will be too small, too.  I just estimated based on the neckband of one of his shirts in the dirty laundry.


The first one technically fit, but I'm much more comfortable with the loose fit (no stretching required) of the modified one.  



My button was too small.  the bowtie could be pulled off in a moment's notice (i.e. before I could even really take a picture).  I guess I"ll have to go ot the store to find some larger buttons.  Maybe a snap would work better, but then the neck wouldn't be adjustable.  (turns out, the smaller band would have worked fine.  This one had stretched out a bit by the time I was trying to put it on him.  



I removed the button and stitched the shorter short neck band to the other side of the bow.  Since this one is just a place holder, I can tie a knot in the back when putting it on Lucky.  If I like this enough, maybe I'd use this construction for the finished project.  (but with bands of equal size.)  


I'm planning on a chocolate cake with a bright blue icing.  What colors do you think would work well for his diaper set?