Finished: Ruffled Bib Necklace

Remember this post? I mentioned that I was feeling crafty after being sparked by the necklace that Kat of Petticoats & Peplums had made and blogged about. I had this pattern in my Ravelry queue too and had always wanted to make it, but bypassed it in favour of patterns that I knew I could pull off. I'm always just too chicken to try my hand at crochet again and always feel so intimidated and inadequate by this craft. Well, I finally got off my butt and faced my fears. And I'm so glad that I did!

This project seriously took me a few hours to whip up, even after having to refresh myself on certain things (like triple crochet) by watching a few videos on youtube. I also got over the daunting task of weaving in the ends and having to to sew the piece together. It was definitely a just buckle up and do it scenario.

I'm quite proud of this project, but if truth be told I'm not sure just how much wear I'll get from it. I can't imagine wearing this while the Munchkin is around, not unless I plan and want the necklace to either be ruined or soiled...or both. I'm also quite surprised that I even had the stuff on hand to complete the project. I can't remember why I had the ball of cotton yarn in the stash, I think it was bought before I realized just how much I dislike working with cotton (due to the fact that it hurts my hands like a mofo, but crocheting with it isn't as bad as knitting with it). The findings were from back in the day when I thought I would try my hand at jewelry making (which never happened, so all the packages were still unopened!) and were stashed away in a random drawer on the desk.

The instructions on how to sew this together were a little on the vague side, and I perused the project pages on Ravelry to see how everyone else had sewn theirs (but no one left any notes/comments about that). I knew I wanted mine to be layered and a bit on the bigger side, so I just did what I thought looked good. One thing that's awesome about crochet fabric is that the sewing and weaving in of ends can really blend in well. My only issue with this piece is that it's not completely symmetrical. I'm all for asymmetrical things, but it needs to be drastic enough to look like it's suppose to be asymmetrical. When it's just slight it ends up looking sloppy. So one side is a bit more tiered looking and the other is rounded. This kinda bugs me. But I think it's the perfectionist in me talking. I think when I finally do get around to wearing this in public (most likely either on a date night or at another beer knit night) I'll just have to remind myself to not look in the mirror. Maybe that way I'll forget that the necklace isn't perfect.

Necklace Details:

Pattern: Ruffled Crochet Bib Necklace by Stefanie Fail

Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Organic Worsted

Colour: Marshmallow

Hook: 4.0mm (US G)

Ravelry Link: MisoCraftyKnits' Ruffled Bib Necklace