on masochism and crazed crafting

I'm sure everyone who loves a particular craft (or many crafts) has had this experience - you see a new pattern and you absolutely must have it. You go racing to the store or diving into your stash in a crazed frenzy - you must make it now; you must have it now. Be you a process- or product-crafter I'm sure you've experienced this. Frankly, if you haven't, I would wonder whether or not you had a soul. We're in this for the love of it, right?

Enter the latest issue of Crochet Today. When I saw the preview go up I was absolutely frothing at the mouth for this necklace. Now I know it's part of a wedding story, but it's not like you have to be a bride to wear an amazing intricate necklace. It doesn't even have to be white. If there were a rift in the space-time continuum and we were still planning our wedding, I would probably make this necklace and wear it for the event. I love it that much. But alas I am already married, and I had a fantastic hand-knit shawl for the event so I wasn't exactly lacking in the home-crafted wedding accessories department.

But I digress - back to the necklace. A while back I acquired a semi-ridiculous stash of size 10 crochet thread. I thought I'd try some intricate potholders out of this thread, but, frankly, that was the stupidest idea I've ever had. I realized it the second I started my first chain. I would never finish a single potholder, let alone 5 potholders for the swap. And even then, were I to miraculously make five potholders out of size 10 crochet thread, would I really be willing to part with those? Honestly? No. I would maybe give one to my own mother since she gave birth to me and all. Maybe one to someone were they to save my life by pushing me out of the path of a speeding car. But frankly, after all the time I would have put in, I would be clutching those suckers until the day I die.

The necklace, however, is objectively beautiful and requires significantly fewer stitches than a potholder - certainly fewer still than five potholders. It is still on the size 10 crochet thread, however, so I thought it might take a little while. I was wrong. Over the course of two days I whipped this sucker out and now I'm ready to bare my décolletage to the world and emblazon it with a crocheted necklace.

And I'm thrilled with the result. Over the moon, even. Am I planning on doing it again? Absolutely. While the pattern isn't exactly for a beginning crocheter - you need to be able to read your stitches pretty well, keep even tension on a very small scale, and OH there is the claw hand - I was shocked that it wasn't more difficult. As you saw above, I have quite the color assortment and it would be nice to try something in a more muted shade. I had to go all out with the red on my first try, though. The only thing I'll change in the future is the size of the necklace. While it would be great with most wedding dresses and evening gowns, I can see how it's going to be hard to wear with other things. Most of my shirts don't go down nearly as low as your average gown, and this necklace is really big. That tank top I'm wearing in the picture above is hardly something I'd wear in public. So I might rework the chart a little bit to make it smaller. And who knows, once I can do that I might even be more comfortable making other pieces of threaded jewelry - a ring, perhaps? That would make a lovely delicate little gift.