Pineapple Crochet Shawl Sweater

I finished another sweater! I first saw this one on Catheryn's crochet blog (which doesn't seem to be there anymore, alas!). That's what got me interested in these Japanese crochet patterns in the first place.  I'd tried it once before in #10 thread, and it came out too small, so this time I used the same rayon thread that Catheryn used, from Elmore Pisgah.  Unfortunately the company is out of business now!  (I know... I'm still upset about that.) 



The back panel is interesting and fun to do.  The rest of the pattern is pretty tedious  (lots of five-chain loops over and over).



I like the hang of the rayon.  It might be just a bit big.  I was keeping a pretty loose tension on this one. 



It's got wings!  I've described the design as "like a shawl with sleeves," which is confusing but pretty accurate.



This one is from the Japanese series Let's Knit vol. 9. It's a very clever design but the pattern is kind of confusing.  Even though I'd done it before, it had been long enough that it still took me a while to figure out what went where. 

I had the sweater in progress but hadn't done anything with it for a while (because I was on the boring part), but then I realized that the deadline for Puyallup Fair entries was coming up.  I spent a few days in a mad flurry of crocheting, and then still had a week for blocking. (Rayon dries more quickly, I think.)  I was all set to take it down to the fairgrounds, but then realized that I had missed the deadline for online registration.  (I knew they were starting online registration this year, but didn't know the registration deadline was earlier than entry day.)  So I didn't get to enter this year.  I was briefly bummed about this, but figured I'll just save it for next year.  These tend to be pretty long-term projects.  I can wait. 

Thanks to Doug for being my very patient photographer!