She's a mod

Another crochet post - sorry to the croch-atheists, but it's something I have just loved to do over these past few months. Even though I have made a few items now, I'm still learning, and this post will show you just how far I have to go. What I enjoy about this craft is its portability and I find it easier to whip out my hook at night than to set up my sewing machine at the moment.

So, when I made my first crochet phone cover, my husband laughed at it. When he does that, it makes me determined to make more just to spite him.  Here are the results of my spiteful week.

Yep, I sewed the top end closed so this cover opens at the wrong end. Small mistake on my part which turned out okay if you can overlook the obvious upside-down stitches.

This photo was my inspiration for my next one:

The colour-blocking on the dress is so striking and I've been intending to sew a similar dress, but then I wondered if I could make it into a phone cover.  The answer is yes, yes I can.

The proportions are not exact, obviously, and I do think that the white and grey part would look better shortened. The grey yarn is wool, while the remaining colours are acrylic, and I suspect using different yarns is why the case distorted where the grey and white meet and why the grey stitching in the top row sits higher than the white.

While I was working on this, I was reminded of some modern art that seems to be appearing in 60s-inspired clothing lately.

Here was my inspiration for my Mondrian phone cover. Could I replicate this look?

JC de Castelbajac jacket and YSL sheath dress

Yes, yes I could.  Like all good works of art, it is best viewed from a distance. Here it is working its best angle:

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Not bad". Well, let me show you how it looks from the front.

I said I could crochet it, I never said anything about crocheting it well.

I trialled several different methods to achieve this pattern, allowing for the fact that I only had a very small amount of dark grey yarn left in my stash. I figured if I had to cut and weave grey tails at each round, I would use up more yarn that way. Also, weaving after every 20 or so stitches makes for a very s-l-o-w project.

What I did instead was keep the grey strand intact while working with the other colours and I simply wove it in behind the working yarn.  That worked okay, although the vertical grey line is not as neat as I had hoped.  Maybe I needed to do a slipstitch on each side of the single crochet with the grey yarn before introducing the white? I am going to experiment and see if that neatens it.

When I introduced the red yarn, the white and grey yarns were woven in behind it, and that's where it became messier. The non-working yarns are visible and the red block and the neighbouring white one look less sharp as a result.

Typically, it turned out there was not enough grey yarn to finish this project anyway - and I was so close. Tarnations!  The light grey yarn was used just so I could photograph the case and have something to show you this week.  I really think this pattern has potential and will be redoing it as the inner perfectionist in me cannot leave it looking like that.

Have you ever tried to crochet something like this? I'd be keen to hear your experiences.  In the meantime, I'll