My Lobster!

9 May 2024

So this, I made yesterday. I was very pleased, hence the exclamation point.

I didn't think I'd get started so quickly, but early in the morning, I felt a need to begin trying my hand at filet crochet, specifically with such fine thread. I have experience with filet work and it's very straightforward, but I have previously worked with #3 threads and fingering weight yarns. The only lace weights I've used have been mohair-silk and, I believe, only in knitting.

I started with an experimental swatch to get a sense of gauge and decide whether I wanted one or two stitches per grid square: I used 2. Moving on to choosing a design, I went to Pinterest where I found my lobster. I worked it rotated 90° with additional buffering columns and rows.

The recommended hook was 1.5 mm, but my pack came with 1.65 mm and 1.3 mm. The 1.65 mm created a looser fabric than I liked in my test swatch, so I worked with 1.3 mm.

It worked up fairly quickly with very little trouble. A project like this is quite good for fast gratification. I'm actually not sure if gratification is entirely what it delivers, but it is incredibly satisfying. It's simultaneously routine and variable enough to keep me engaged, maybe a little more so than other projects. It can be easy to fall into a fixation on crochet anyway, but with this work specifically, the pull of just one more row feels so much stronger.

I stepped away from it a few times for other engagements, but it was still a quick project. If any mistakes were made, I was able to find and fix them very easily. It also wasn't very bothersome to redo those rows because of how engaging the work is. I wrapped up my lobster in the evening.

I've not yet decided on a border, but I want something a bit ornate.

I almost forgot to mention the period during which I considered returning the thread. When I first started my swatch, I quickly realised I was not going to achieve the gauge I'd imagined in my head, at least not with my current methods and materials. There are patterns I'd like to make without making pieces that reach 20+ inches in width, but I concluded I would just create simpler designs for now. That's partially how I chose this lobster. I am happy I kept the thread; making this piece was a wonderful experience. Moving forward, I'll play with my own designs and see what I can make at an appropriate size for the projects I have in mind.

11 May 2024

I found this image on Pinterest and decided on it to inspire my border.

I first needed both a solid and grid round of filet bordering.

I then began the edging which I executed by single crocheting wherever you would normally double crochet to make solid filet blocks and adding a chain 3 between the mid-square single crochets.

I noticed the gauge of the border was causing some rippling and I'd worked backside up, so this was soon unravelled to be redone.

Complete

This is a public note. It is not a pattern. This documentation of my process has been made public with little clarification in case there is anything to be learned.