capelet with rosette

This is a pattern that I had languishing for a while because I did not like the neckline (too small) and it felt a bit short. After a few re-dos, I am now happy. The crochet trim was fun to do. The fringe was very easy. The instructions for the rosette was a little confusing for me (I don't crochet much), but I eventually understood the concept. I have written a clarification for the rosette below. This is one of the few patterns where I used exactly the yarn called for in the pattern. Completed February 2005.

Pattern: Lion Brand Yarn's free pattern, "Town and Country Knit Capelet with Crochet Trim"

Pattern Clarification: Row 2 of the rosette was confusing in the beginning. When it says to dc in the ch-1 spaces, it refers to the cP spaces that were made in row 1, not the Ch 3 that were made at the beginning of row 2.

Pattern Modifications: I made a size small which fit fine widthwise but felt a bit short. I thus knit the body about an inch longer than the size small pattern called for so the capelet now ends squarely at the elbows instead of above them. The neckline as the pattern provided was a really tight squeeze for me even with a loose cast off. I made two changes to fix this problem. 1) Instead of decreasing to 36 stitches with the *k1, k2tog repeat, I decreased to 38 stitches by doing a *k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k1, k2tog repeat for the last decrease row. 2) I knit the garter stitch neckline border with size 10.5 needles and I cast off loosely with a size 15 needle. The neckline is very comfortable to go over the head now but is not huge.

Yarn Brand: Lion Brand Homespun 302 Colonial (blue colorway)

Quantity: 2 skeins for small size

Needles: Size 10 circular needles for body. Size 10.5 needles for neckline if desired. Size K crochet hook.

Gauge: 10 st. = 4"