the betsy skirt
Clarity. Such a pretty word.
Presently I'm trying to embrace, live and breathe it, for Clarity is my word for this year.
I chose Clarity because for the last nine months, perhaps even a year, my mind has been a bit of a fug. I use the word fug because it's not like I can't concentrate and get stuff done, I can, it's just that there's too much stuff going on inside my head and everything has become a bit blurry.
Almost like I can't quite distinguish one thing from another. I feel like I have one big blurry called 'work' another called 'home' and another called 'family', and 'friends', and 'fun', 'exercise', 'food', etc etc, you know what I mean.
In an effort to shake off the fug, I have been working on mindfulness and trying to be a bit more ordered with my thoughts. This has led me to setting myself three goals every day, just three, not massive ones either, just three things; send that email you've been putting off, write a blog post, knit on your birthday jumper. I feel like if I can achieve just those three things then I will feel like I've had a successful day and inevitably I do a lot more than the three things so I end up feeling like I've over-achieved. It really works!
One of the things that has happened is a realisation that I'm sitting on a huge pile of patterns that need writing up, photographing and typesetting. When I say huge, I mean HUGE! The list is long and filled with items that were either samples for magazines or samples for me. Mostly I can't figure out why I didn't process the pattern fully at the time of making. In the case of magazine samples I usually have to wait between three and six months before I can sell the pattern so that is some excuse but for the other stuff I have no idea.
The Betsy Skirt was designed at the beginning of last year for Issue 2 of Crochet Now magazine.
I designed this skirt with Betsy in mind, Betsy who is both super girly and madly acrobatic. Betsy who wants to wear a skirt but not be fussing around with it all the time. I rate the pattern as easy and suitable for beginners; you work the main body of the skirt back and forth into a rectangle and sew up with a back seam at the end. The simple cross hatch style stitch gives lots of stretch to the fabric whilst the pompom ties make it fun. Personally though, I would faint clean away if someone gave me a skirt with a frilled crochet hem? Wouldn't you?
The yarn I used is Sublime Extra Fine Merino Worsted (very soft and luxurious), in the colours Aubergine, Salty Grey and Sunday - yes that lovely yellow is called Sunday, perfect.
The pattern is available to buy here for £2.50 plus VAT (if you are in the EU).
Happy crocheting yo!