Monday, July 14, 2008

Oh so Boteh

Boteh 1
Would you care to lecture me on the wickedness of my crochet?

Heh. Talk aaaaall you want, baby. 'Cause Boteh and I are hooked. up.
Boteh 2
If you haven't hooked up with Boteh yourself, you really should. Because it is one kickass, brilliant design. It's fun. It's funky. It's the kind of scarf strangers will walk up and ask you about. And it looks way more complicated than it is.

You spin me about
If you're a starter hooker like I am, your first instinct might be to say, run screaming your head off from that scary-ass chart. But once you actually read through the pattern, you'll see it's a piece of cake! Ooo, make that red velvet cake.
(Well, what other kind would a hooker serve?)

Oh, and did I mention it was fast? It only took three nights. Wanna guess the final size? Go ahead, guess.

80" long x 6" wide! In sport-weight yarn! Do you know how much time it would take to knit a scarf that long? Actually, if you do know, don't tell me, because that may be the Chevron black hole I'll be falling in to later.

Boteh 3
You want a slinky scarf? I can get you a slinky scarf.

On the raggedy edge
I originally finished this off with 12 triangles, leaving just enough yarn for the border. HA! Or so I thought. Sure enough, halfway around, the catalyzer on my port compression coil blew. (Or for you non-Firefly fans, I was dead in the water.)

Then I tried to convince myself that it looked better without the border. But I had to go and like, look at the two sides. Damn my eyes.


So I tinked back one triangle and instead of breaking the yarn, just turned and started the border from that point. This gave me enough yarn to make it around the edge and with more HDCs (did one every other "loop" or so) with maybe a yard to spare.

Since the yarn was heavier than the pattern called for, the extra HDCs gave the scarf much more stretch and much more pretty. Plus, I'd forgotten how much scarves can grow in blocking - given that the final size is over 6.5 feet long, it's actually a good thing I took that triangle out!
Boteh 4
I can't tell which side is the front and which is the back. It's reversible!

Now that's it's done, I can say with 100% certainty that hooking around the border of a crochet project is going to be like picking up stitches in knitting. Something I'll never feel like I'm doing correctly and requiring many Pop Tarts to soothe the pain.

Yarn thoughts
STR Heavyweight. Overdyed with Kool Aid. Heeeeeeeee.

Wrap it up
I LOVE this pattern! Almost as much as I love my newly-invigorated crush on Joshua Jackson. (I've always had a thing for him, but saw this last night and now, I want to marry him. Except I'm already married. And not famous. And not Diana Kruger. Dammit. Oh, and did I mention Joshua is my favorite boy name?)

It was originally intended for my wardrobe, but my best friend
would totally dig this, so it's going into the vault for her birthday. Look, I'm already ahead of schedule on my fall gift knitting! And now I can start planning another one for me! Wheeee!
Boteh 5
Boteh Scarf

Pattern: Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007 (also available here)
Yarn:
STR Heavyweight in Inared (Boysenberry overdyed with Cherry Kool-Aid)
Hook: Susan Bates Silvalume, Size G
Size: 80" long x 6" wide
Mods: 11 triangles, more HDCs around border

11 Comments:

Blogger Trillian42 said...

Gore. Geous. Really, really beautiful - I love the way it looks in the reds. Mine is in a green/brown colorway, and I adore it. You totally need to make one for yourself.

And in my mind, I immediately heard "Captain, can I have money for a slinky scarf?" :D

5:25 PM  
Blogger Zonda said...

Wow! That is fabulous!! Hehe..the vault of Weez's FO's!

6:03 PM  
Blogger Bezzie said...

Hm, you know what a difference a weekend makes--I totally "get" how this is constructed.

Very nice!

6:31 PM  
Blogger turtlegirl76 said...

It looks absolutely awesome. I'm blogging mine tomorrow. I'd better measure it. I didn't bother! Eep!

7:30 PM  
Blogger MrsFife said...

What a gorgeous thing it is! And you can keep making it again and again.

I loved making mine too, and had the exact same problem, with running out of yarn halfway around the edging. I thought it was because of not having the same yardage on my yarn as the recommended yarn. I ripped one triangle too.

7:45 PM  
Blogger chemgrrl said...

Oooo...sexy slinky scarfage. But why no modeled shot? Are you afraid you'd never take it off again?

8:27 PM  
Blogger Sarah said...

Yum! That dye job really made this scarf! For the first time in a long time, I think I may be tempted to pick up a hook ...

4:38 AM  
Blogger Beverly said...

I keep telling myself that one of these days, I will learn to crochet. Every time I see a finished object as cool as your scarf, I really want to learn. Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and get hooking.

8:55 AM  
Blogger Sourire11 said...

Ok that scarf almost makes me want to try crochet.... very cool.

1:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow - love it! Makes me want to try crochet again...

6:35 PM  
Blogger IrishGirlieKnits said...

Absolutely gorgeous!! Love love love!! And that color...great job!!

9:55 PM  

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