Lion Brand Irish Lace Caplet in Cotton Ease

My first big crochet project and I am feeling pretty good about it. I have been drooling over the Irish Lace Scarf pattern (Nicky Epstein for Lion Brand) ever since Fabric.com featured it as a thumbnail for our Yarn Section. This is a great pattern for beginners. It is still a little tricky but a good way to expand your crochet knowledge. I had stumbled a bit on the scarf with the last stitch of each row's placement but with some experimentation decided to stitch into the spaces for the last stitches instead of the chain as the pattern states. I also had trouble with the Roses. Crochet seems to be more 3D than knitting which I think of as more back and forth and if you want to build you must go back and pick up stitches. But this is not the case with crochet; you can just as easily build out as you can back and forth. When the Rose Pattern called for 'working behind' rows I was stumped. No- I was beyond stumped. As a knitter I could not see how it was possible. However, with the help of this fine video I was able to see through my ignorance and work out the Rose.

I hooked mine in Lion Brand Cotton Ease Terracotta (2 skeins) and made it into a caplet to wear to spring/summer weddings or as a chic addition for a chilly date-night. Here's the low down to make one just like mine. First, I shortened the pattern from 57 in. to about 28-30 in. I also added the picot edge to only 3 sides. After making my first Rose, I loved the look so much without the center than I decided against crocheting the centers. I also opted out of the leaves since I was going for a caplet instead of a scarf so I wanted fewer additions so as not to compete with my dress and to make the lace detail stand out. Since I was crocheting this out of cotton, I was also concerned about too much weight so that was another reason to nix the added leaves. I added the ties by SC a slip knot on to the top corners and then chaining about 20 chains (or 6 in. length). The Roses are joined on with slip stitches to the upper corners of each end.