After spending about a year on the Linen and Lace Tunic, I wanted something quick and easy to make. I found the Summertime Tee by Toni Lipsey on Ravelry; I purchased it there. It’s also available for free on her blog TL Yarn Crafts. I was able to complete this project in two weeks! It was that quick and easy. And I’m slow, so others could probably make it much faster.
A few years ago, at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 1, I picked up a pattern for a tunic, Linen and Lace by Crochet Mon Cherie. I had purchased the pattern and the thread, Linas Linen in Grey, (I can’t find any current resources for Linas Linen, so I don’t think it’s available anymore). Two years ago, I picked up the pattern with the intention of creating the tunic, well, I got stuck on the pattern. I had a difficult time with the motif and I couldn’t quite figure out what I was supposed to do on Round 5. So I put it down.
I joined my first Crochet-A-Long (CAL). Back in April. This is probably why I never never joined a CAL before. I was always afraid I couldn’t keep up. Over three months later and I finally finished!
One of the crochet Facebook groups I follow is called Lifelong Crochet. I like this group. They are positive, drama-free, and quirky. Right up my alley. They held this CAL starting at the end of April and I’ve just been behind from the beginning.
We worked on a pattern called Dancing Daisy. It’s a top or swimsuit cover, whatever you prefer, I guess. I’ll likely use it as both. Nurturing Fibres and the designer Brenda Gobler gave permission to Lifelong Crochet to use the pattern for their CAL. It looks like the pattern for the Dancing Daisy cover up is available for free from Nurturing Fibers. Note: this is a British pattern.
So I started the pattern at the end of April and just finished it last night. The pattern was not difficult, I just didn’t have a lot of dedicated time to spend on it. I did like the fact that this pattern taught me to work with motifs, which is my first time working with and joining motifs. This was also my first article of clothing I have ever finished (other than ponchos). I feel like I’ve upped my game another notch on this project.
Blocking the motifs on a blocking mat.
Finished product including my label.
Here you can see the motifs on the bottom of the top and the cat paw at the top of the top.
Modelling my new top. I’m going to wear it to the pool today.
One thing my time on Pinterest has taught me, Russian crochet is beautiful. There are so many patterns that I pin, and the URLs are Russian. In fact, I’ve pinned enough Russian crochet, that I’ve created a separate board for it. Now it’s not always easy to find the patterns for what I’ve found. But, many times I can find charts for the patterns. So one of my goals for the year is to learn how to read charts.
Little Bit of Foolishness 
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