It is time to crochet

This is what you get when you ask GPT for a sketch of a hooded, crocheted ruana, done in many different stitch patterns in many different colours. Not too bad, but not quite what I have in my head. But it will give you a reasonable idea of where I am heading. Although the picture in my head is way more colourful and crazier than this one.

I have been wanting to crochet a ruana for many years. I crocheted one in 2011 from the cheapest acrylic yarn I could find, as I was not sure it would work. Well, it worked, and I wore that thing into a pilling mess in two winters. The quality of the yarn was really horrid, but for the price I paid, I should not complain.

This is the only photo I could find of the old one, modelled here by my daughter. It was my favourite garment to wear with a jean.

Looking at it today, I realise how much I have grown as a crafter and designer.

This time around I am going to use cotton, simply because it is affordable. One day when I am all grown up (and rich), I will crochet another one in wool and other animal fibres. A girl can dream hey!

I chose Colourspun Cotton Sock (4-ply) in Happies. Happie is the Afrikaans word for a small bite. That is the perfect name in my opinion for these teeny tiny 10g balls. When I ordered the cotton, I told Dana to give me every colour she had stock of, and as always, Dana did not disappoint. Happies are available from Colourspun in packs of 48, 70 or 140 and if you really want to, you can get Happies in a more constraint colour scheme than mine – just chat to Dana about it.

I finished the last item in The Solo Skein Series the day before yesterday. It is not blocked yet. I must wait for laundry day so that I can pin it on the bed in the caravan. But I could not wait to start the Ruana!

At first, my OCD kicked in. Choosing colours was difficult. Then I decided to just throw all caution to the wind. I handed the bag of yarn to my husband and told him to throw me a ball whenever I asked for one. I vowed not to reject any colour he hands me. People, this is going to be one crazy coloured garment! It will contain a lot of different motifs, and different stitch patterns. It sure will not be boring.

There are some big decisions that I need to make. Am I going to write a pattern for this? If I do, I am going to need some testers. If I decide to write a pattern, we might as well do a CAL. But I am not sure that there are enough people in this world of crochet, whose crazy matches my crazy. Writing a pattern takes a whole lot of time. I do not want to do it if there will not be much interest in it. If I decide to write the pattern, test the pattern, and do a CAL, I might as well consider a mystery CAL. You will know what you are making, but you will not know what it looks like as a finished garment. That way we can save time. But then again, I will not know how much yarn you will need until mine is all done. So, I do not know what to do. Your opinion matters a lot to me, so give it to me in the comments.

Does your crazy match my crazy?