Tag: Crochet

  • Crocheting on Two Wheels (Part 1) The Start of The View Dress

    Crocheting on Two Wheels (Part 1) The Start of The View Dress

    I write this from a plane over the Amazon forest right now, that feels pretty good, to be honest. Today I start my bike trip around South America. Isn’t this a crochet blog thing you say? It is, that’s why the focus of this post will be to talk about the project I’m taking with me, because any crocheter knows, a long trip needs a project.

    I’ll might have a lot downtime during this two or three months I’m going to go from Bogota, Colombia, to my hometown in the south of Brazil. We have no set itinerary. So to keep me busy and maybe you entertained I want to write about it during this time. But not that much about the trip it self (But who knows, sometimes the trip part will take over.) But mostly about the project that I’m taking with me.

    A crochet dress.

    I have it in my mind for three years now I believe. I have started it twice already. I’ve been calling it The Insanity Dress, but I will find a better name for it along the way. But I am definitely a bit crazy for this one.

    First, because it’s the first dress I’ll try to crochet. I have knitted one this year, but that’s not the same as we all know. 

    Second, I decided that I wanted to make it in black bamboo yarn, super thin. And using only half double crochets. 

    Yes I know, crazy. 

    Black? Famous for being hard to see. Especially in poor lighting. 

    I’m using a 2.5 mm hook, and my favorite stitch. But with the very fine yarn this thing will take forever. 

    Lastly, bamboo yarn. I imagine anyone who’s worked with it has a love-hate relationship. The feel of the fabric and drape is great. But it’s slippery and splits all the time. 

    Even with all the cons laid out, I tell you, the look I have in mind… Worth it. 

    I wish I was good at drawing to properly translate the image I have in mind. I guess you will have to stick around for a bit and see if I finally finish this dress. 

    My plan is to write about it once a week, maybe every other week. Telling what I have done and how, maybe by the end you can make yours too. (no bike trip required) 

    For now all my yarn is packed up. I’m still working on the swatch so I can redo all the math from before. The first two times I started with the skirt, it didn’t turned out the way I wanted. 

    I tried it the first time crocheting in the round. Not a fan of how the “scar” from finishing a row and starting the next looks. 

    The second time, I worked in two panels. The increases for the hips worked, but not a 100%. After two years, I figured it was better to just start over. Also, pretty sure my measurements changed. 

    I hope to share photos or videos of me crocheting around in different places for the next few weeks. For that you might need to check my instagram, I’ll try my best to have a daily update of this dress and trip. I hope you stick around to see the final result! 

    I’m not quitting this dress a third time. I am finishing it!

    Meet Blue. She will be taking us on this journey.

    Here is a summary of the next parts

    Crocheting on two wheels (Part 2) – Where I talk about the skirt’s front panel

    Crocheting on two wheels (Part 3) – Here you find the back panel

    Crocheting on Two Wheels (Part 4) – All about the top portion

    Crocheting on Two Wheels (part 5) – The mistakes I made and how to fix them

  • Thrift Store Finds: Lessons on Quality in Fashion

    Thrift Store Finds: Lessons on Quality in Fashion

    Do you also notice the decline in quality on clothes? Actually in everything, but this is a blog about fashion so we are keeping the niche.

    My Thrift Store Treasure

    I’ve been a Thrift store enthusiast since I was a teenager. I have two skirts I paid R$1 each, equivalent a 0.17 US Dollars, 12 years ago. There’s a chance those skirts are older than me. They still look great. Can you imagine buying anything today, and that piece of clothing lasting you 5 years? Can you imagine 30?

    I can’t. And it bothers me. A lot.

    A person is standing outdoors in front of a tree and some greenery. The person is wearing a white knitted crop top, a cardigan with pastel-colored sleeves (blue, pink, purple and green), and a blue skirt.

    The Impact of Fast Fashion

    If you have a spare 20 min I recommend this video.

    It explains why even companies known for good quality in the past are switching to lower quality materials. And we should all know the answer for that. Late capitalism. Where the only thing that really matter is:

    Profit

    You can argue that Fast fashion is a good thing for poorer people. It made fashion and style affordable. And yes, that’s true. But I would counter-argue with a James Baldwin quote:

    “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”

    Or with the Boots theory. Where Terry Pratchett in his novel explains how someone rich spends less money buying a more expensive pair of boots. While someone who can’t afford the expensive pair will spend more money on boots throughout their life. And still have their feet wet all the time.

    But this is a crochet blog isn’t it? Yes. But I swear they are related. Cause this was one of the things that motivated me to start creating my own pieces. The best way to ensure high-quality items is to DIY the heck out of it. Then you know for sure that the materials used are good quality. And only one person was exploited in the making. You.

    I had this post ready for a couple days when Bernadette Banner posted this video

    So I’m back here to add it to this because it reflects exactly how I feel. It also has valuable information on how to spot high-quality clothes. I could just rewrite all the information on these two videos and pretend it was all me. However, I prefer to redirect you to a good content creator. This way, I can give them credit.

    With all of that, I would like to know, or maybe just make you think:

    Why not spend more time and money shopping at thrifting stores? Even though fast fashion got there too. Or invest in a higher quality item? Keeping in mind that higher price is not equal higher quality. Why not support a local maker instead?

    Even better, why not create your own garments? It only requires patience really, skills we acquire during the process. I will always encourage the DIY fashion. But that is another blog post.

    Why are we buying fast fashion? (feel free to leave an answer in the comments, if you have one.)

  • Creating Crochet Patterns: My 2023 Resolution

    Yes, I’m late on my resolution.


    This year I decided to accomplish a 2023 resolution I had. To write a crochet pattern for a top I made the year before. And I did. By the second week of the year the pattern was done. And now somehow I also have a blog.

    A quick note. My life changed quite a lot in the last two years. From a full-time ballet dancer/part-time server to very likely going from Mexico to Argentina with my boyfriend on a motorbike. It was a good time to change another thing. Do things even though I don’t feel ready for it. They say you just need to be 70% ready anyway.

    So why this turned into a blog again you ask?

    I can’t half-ass stuff I do. I try, but I can’t help myself. Is this a promise of great work? That’s a very personal decision. So, no. I won’t promise that.

    But that’s the short version of that question. The long simplified one? I wrote the pattern, I’m getting it tested right now. Then I would have to start promoting it in some way. Pinterest sounded good. Therefore here we are, somehow creating content. Being something I never thought I would be, a blogger. (I REFUSE to be an “influencer“, maybe one day we get to that)

    I was never a big user on Instagram, I created one a bit ago for my brand, the very own you see in this blog. But never really did much with it. And to be honest, even now I’m disassociating a little bit to write this blog. It’s not natural to me to say “This is my brand!”, it sounds weird. And somehow creating this character is helpful to get it moving. This blog format also helps. You probably won’t see me sharing this page on my personal account.

    But I’m rambling. Back to the point!

    I created this blog to share my creations with people. With people that are willing to read a couple paragraphs and not just watch a 15s reel. I want to talk about slow fashion anyway, it makes more sense in my mind. And since the plan is to be on the road for the next year or so, this is a job I can still do.

    So in the future, you will see more handmade projects, random thoughts on fashion, crochet patterns and my weird humor.

    I hope you enjoy and stick around!

    This is the top I mention.

    Ooh, and I’m Angela. Hi.

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    Ange