Today I thought I'd talk about Acer by Joanne Scrace of The Crochet Project. I know many of you will recognise it as I was showing my progress on Facebook and Instagram in March whilst I was making it. It took a while actually; I didn't realise why until I blocked it and saw how big it is. I usually wear shawls back to front like so..
Anyhow, Acer is my first bit of proper crochet.. I've made amigurumi and several ripple blankets but that's it. So it felt like a bit of a daunting project, but I just googled anything I didn't know (ie
everything!) and after one false start it was fine. In fact, it was easy.
I find that the biggest challenge with crochet is learning to read the work - until the pattern starts to emerge and become obvious, it can be a bit confusing. Acer has a chart though as well as written instructions, which is helpful. With knitting I always go with charts, but with crochet I'm flying blind a bit so I start with the written instructions, and then move onto the chart once the pattern is established.
As you can see, I added some stripes just to break up the pattern a bit. The purple one is two rows of Milburn 4ply in Damson, and the light one is one row of Oakworth 4ply in Stone (which is an oatmeal shade). The finished measurements are 188cm (74 inches) wingspan by 89cm (35 inches drop), bearing in mind I blocked it very hard. I used four 50g balls of Askham 4ply in Walnut for the main colour.
You can see how open and lacy it becomes. As with knitting, it looks raggy and messy until you block it, then it transforms into a far more neat and elegant fabric. I block everything on foam play mats (you can get them on Amazon and they jigsaw together - just search foam play mat and you should find them) on the dining room table. For the straight edges I use the KnitPro comb pin thingies, and for the scallop points I use dressmaking pins or, if I ever find where I've put them, T pins from Tangled Yarn.
The pattern starts in the left corner above, so I put the grey stripe in early on. It's four rows in Milburn 4ply in Steel.
The pattern is available digitally only on lovecrochet.com, however I'm stocking the print patterns (HERE). They're in a handy A5 format (that's the future, don't you think?), are beautifully printed, and are very clear and easy to read. They're £4 each.. They don't come with a download code because of being digital on lovecrochet but I must admit, I always print out digital patterns anyway so I can put them in my project bag so I don't think it matters.
So I hope this inspires you.. If you're a crocheter then what are y waiting for?! And if you're a knitter I swear this pattern is easy to learn!
